The human dragon and the half-elf
by Tammazzu
Summary: The battle for the capital was coming to an end but Tatsumi will never see it, he closed his eyes waiting for death to come...but to his surprise, he found himself in an unknown land with an unexpected partner, what will happen now?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Arrival**

**Hello my dear readers, and welcome to my second experiment of my summer break. I have nothing much to say other than this crossover will follow the events of Akame ga kill manga so **

**_SPOILER WARNING _**

**This is a crossover based on Akame Ga Kill and Re:Zero and will be set in the Re:Zero universe. The point of intersection is just after Chapter 76 of Akame Ga Kill (with the assumption that the curse from Murasame """"kills""""both Tatsumi and the Tyrant)**

**With this being said, I hope you'll enjoy this story, I don't know when I'll update it but I will continue it along with my two main stories. I'll answer all of your question and critiques in the next chapter or in the PMs.**

**Let's get to this new story!**

**The Capital**

Tatsumi was lying on the battlefield, his body was no longer human, it was the body of a dragon...more precisely of the Tyrant. Akame was walking towards him with Murasame in her hand, she was keeping the promise the two of them made before.

"Very Well, I shall kill you" Akame whispered before gazing one last time in Tatsumi's eyes before stabbing him with the cursed sword.

Tatsumi's body fell to the ground with a loud thud and causing the earth beneath it to shake. '_thank you Akame...farewell' _ Tatsumi thought as he closed his eyes and the curse crossed his body.

* * *

**Kingdom of Lugnica **

Tatsumi opened his eyes, light filled his vision causing him to cover his eyes with his hand...his human hand. The assassin blinked a few times in shock before checking his body several times before coming to a conclusion...he was back in his body. He then noticed that Incursio's key was strapped to his back, Tatsumi grabbed it and inspected it. It felt like it was...

"Hollow" he whispered to himself before double-checking. It was no mistake, Incursio's key was empty! The Tyrant wasn't there. Tatsumi widened his eyes as a horrifying thought crossed his mind 'Could it be that...the tyrant is still...?"

"Oi, I'm right here" Someone close to his ear said

Tatsumi turned in the direction of his voice and saw a... Black red-eyed chibi version of the Tyrant sitting on his shoulder.

"Oi! Quit staring" The Tyrant said

Tatsumi snapped to his senses "It's just...you are so cute that the idea that you are one of the strongest danger beasts that ever lived sounds more like a lie" he blurted out in shock "How did the great Tyrant ended up like that?"

"'How?' he asked!" The Tyrant replied wagging its tail with an enraged expression "It's your's and your friend's fault, I ended up like this! She aimed at me you know?! She didn't kill you! She killed me! Or at least she tried to!"

"Tried?" Tatsumi asked raising an eyebrow

"Yep! I had to adapt to her curse! And so I left my body and became a spirit" The Chibi Tyrant explained.

"Wait...if you left your body and the curse was aimed at you, it means that...I'm not supposed to be dead" The assassin said as he crossed his arms

"Duh! You are not only alive but you also stole my body! You ARE the Tyrant! Take a Look!" the Tyrant replied as he flew to Incursio's key.

Tatsumi looked at his reflection on the blade and saw himself...

He still had his brown hair but the major difference were his eyes. His right eye was red with a cross slit pupil at the center. His left eye was green but now also had a cross slit pupil at the center. He then touched his hair and felt something hard, it was a pair of small dragonic horns that was mostly hidden by his hair.

'So that's how it is huh?' Tatsumi asked himself before blinking a few time and grabbing in small tyrant and squeezing him "Then why we are not in the capital?!"

In reply, the small dragon bit his finger causing Tatsumi to let him go "How am I supposed to know?! Everything went black and I ended up here with you!" He replied before looking around "Also everyone is looking at us"

Tatsumi blinked a few times as he analyzed his surroundings, he saw that many people were staring at him and whispering.

Tatsumi just bailed out, he ran towards an empty valley and sighed "well...this isn't the capital" he whispered as the Tyrant nodded in agreement. The assassin looked at the small dragon and sighed "So what is your name?"

"I don't have one" The Tyrant replied

"Well, how about I give you one? I can't just call you Tyrant" Tatsumi replied

"Why not? It's cool" Tyrant replied

"It's not really friendly" Tatsumi said sighing "How about this, if I come up with better names I'll call you with one of them?"

"Sure" the dragon replied

"Then, how about Tyr?" Tatsumi joked as the Tyrant looked at him with the 'Are you fucking with me?' look "Draco?" The assassin said getting the same expression "Albion?"

"Nope"

"Ddraig?"

"That's just lazy"

"Ghidora?"

"I don't have three heads"

"Smaug?" Tatsumi proposed

"meh, I want something...that sounds powerful" The Tyrant replied

"Ancalagon?"

"I LIKE IT! IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING BIG!" Ancalagon said excited

"even though you're small and cute" Tatsumi whispered to himself before nodding "Ancalagon it is then"

The small dragon wagged its tail before its head perked up as he looked at the end of the alley "Bad people approaching"

"I was fighting Esdeath less than an hour ago...give me a break" Tatsumi said before he looked at the three people who just entered the alley

The first one had a large body with purple hair and eyes. He was wearing tan clothes, an orange sash around his waist, a green vest, and black shoes.

The second had an unusual white complexion with black eyes. He was wearing something that looked like a prison suit and had chains around his wrists and throat. He had long grayish-blue hair with pink at the end. Tatsumi noticed that out of the three, he was the one with normal body size.

The third was the shortest of the three, he had brown mushroom hair and large black eyes

'thugs' Tatsumi thought as he rolled his eyes, he noticed how Ancalagon was nowhere to be seen now and raised an eyebrow.

The second thug grabbed Tatsumi by the collar and looked at him a smug expression "You look like a smart one, you probably what will happen next, am I right?"

Tatsumi just sighed "Yeah, the three of you will be lying on the floor spitting blood"

"Yeah exactly!" The shortest one said before he frowned "wait...wha-"

And then it happened.

Tatsumi freed himself from the second thug's grip blurred in front of the big one, who looked like the more threating and punched him in his belly, sending him crashing into the wall before he fainted. The Assassin turned around and sent a hammer kick to the shortest one, who fell to the ground unconscious. He then turned to face the last thug standing who had distanced himself from Tatsumi and was bring his hands behind his back, Tatsumi guessed that he had a weapon with him and so he dashed in front of him and sent an uppercut who struck the thug on the chin, immediately sending him unconscious and bleeding from his mouth.

Tatsumi felt one last presence near him and was already ready to strike whoever it was. He saw a short girl with fair skin and medium-length golden hair with a black bow. She had red eyes and was wearing a black top, red scarf, black pants that were incomplete on the left side. The Assassin's fist was an inch away from her face, which was utterly horrified.

"Are you with them?" Tatsumi asked coldly sending a chill down the girl's spine

The girl shook her head vigorously "No...I was just passing by"

Tatsumi retracted his fist and nodded as the girl just ran past him and climbed on the rooftops with some acrobatic moves.

"Good job, partner" Ancalagon said as he reappeared beside Tatsumi

"I'm starting to think that you are just a hallucination" Tatsumi remarked as he crossed his arms and looked at the small dragon "Where have you been? And now that I think about it, why are even able to talk in the first place"

"I was watching the show from the best viewpoint" Ancalagon replied shrugging "I'm a spirit, I'm no longer fit for combat." he started saying "the reason why I'm able to speak with you is quite simple when I became a spirit in order to escape your friend's curse I took along my intelligence and consciousness, I developed my intelligence in order to adapt to the situation where I could no longer use my brute force to solve any problem. So I ended up like this, partner"

"Partner?" Tatsumi asked raising an eyebrow

"Yeah, you know...you WORE me in order to get your things done" Ancalagon replied "Bulat was my partner before you but you are the one who brought forth the best of me...though you kinda betrayed me at the end, not cool man"

"You were trying to take over my consciousness and were about to kill me" Tatsumi deadpanned "And my companions"

"I admit that I was a bit angry...after all, the first emperor kinda hunted me down with all of his men forced me inside that teigu...and the fact you were fighting that much may have got my blood pumping along with all those evolutions, but can you blame me? I have been trapped inside that armor for centuries!" Ancalagon replied

Tatsumi had to admit that really sound bad, he couldn't imagine being trapped alive inside an armor for all that time only to be used for someone's else goals...

"Can we just call it even?" Ancalagon proposed "After all, I can't take that body again otherwise the curse of your friend will finish what it started but at least my spirit is free to some extent. You have the body of a dragon, kept all the good stuff about me and your free will"

"You are free to some extent?" Tatsumi asked tilting his head

"Well, I kinda tried to leave you while you were checking your body, but after a certain distance I start losing my forces, so I came back and as soon as I made contact with you I felt strong again" Ancalagon replied as he landed on Tatsumi shoulder

Tatsumi brought his hand to his chin as he tried to think an explanation on what could have caused this strange situation but couldn't think to any explanation. He then looked at Ancalagon and nodded "I will look forward to work with you..._partner_" he then looked at the unconscious thugs "What should we do with them?"

"Can I eat them?" Ancalagon asked "I didn't have a proper meal in centuries"

"Nope, I don't want problems" Tatsumi replied before checking his pockets "Well...I have no money right now, maybe they will help us?" he said with a smirk as he grabbed the thugs money, which was quite a lot. He inspected the coins and unfortunately, couldn't tell how much they were worth.

"Well, that's going to be a problem" He said before feeling a presence near him, He turned around and saw a beautiful girl with silver hair and purple-blue eyes. She was wearing a white and purple outfit along with a white flower in her hair.

"You!" She shouted "Give me back what belongs to me"

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow "I'm sorry?"

"Don't play dumb, you stole something really important to me, give it back to me and I will not do anything to you" the girl said pointing her finger at Tatsumi.

"I don't even know who you are" Tatsumi replied as the image of the girl from before flashed in front of his eyes, he immediately understood why she was in such a hurry...she stole something from this girl...he should have knocked her out... "I think you are mistaking me for someone else, less than five minutes ago, a blonde girl ran here and left in a hurry"

The silver-haired girl narrowed her eyes at Tatsumi "uhm...you seem sincere...thanks" she said as she ran past Tatsumi before stopping her tracks shortly after "...What happened here?"

"These guys tried to rob me" Tatsumi replied casually as he shrugged

"And why are you taking their money?" she asked

"Well, I'm taking back my belongings and the money they stole from someone else of course" He lied, after all, he had no money, this was the main reason why he took the thugs' money though he guessed that those were money they stole from someone who was unlucky enough to meet them.

"I see...you didn't go easy on them" she said as she looked at the unconscious thugs "You did this all by yourself?"

"Kinda" Tatsumi replied before he noticed that the girl was now staring at him wide-eyed.

"You are a spirit user like me..." she said

Tatsumi looked at her with a puzzled expression "I beg your pardon?" he asked as she pointed at his shoulder, he looked at the pointed direction and saw Ancalagon sitting on his shoulder "Oh...yeah..." he said 'what the hell is a spirit user?' he thought as he closed his eyes

'I don't know, probably someone who talks to spirits?' Ancalagon replied

'If that's was the case, shouldn't be called Spirit Whisperer or something like that?... WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY MIND?!' Tatsumi thought

'You need to chill, we are connected, remember? Of course, I can talk to you' Ancalagon replied

Tatsumi sighed and opened his eyes only to find himself looking at a small cat floating in front of his face

"Yo!" The small cat greeted him as he waved its paw "I'm Puck!"

"Ehm...I'm Tatsumi" The assassin replied blinking a few times before Puck flew in front Ancalagon

"Hello there! I don't think I know you, what's your name?" The cat asked

Ancalagon just yawned at him before spreading its wings "I'm Ancalagon The Black Red-Eyed Dragon"

'What's up with all that?' Tatsumi asked through his mental link

"Impressions are important' Ancalagon replied

"Never heard of you!" Puck said chuckling with a smug expression

"What did you say you fuck-" Ancalagon started to say before getting his mouth covered by Tatsumi hand

"Oi, Oi, If you keep going like that I will be forced to freeze you" Puck joked before laughing a bit

Ancalagon bit Tatsumi hand "I would like to see you try! Just to let you know, My partner and I kicked the ass of an ice Goddess!" he declared before getting hit on top of his by Tatsumi 'What's that for?!'

'One, Esdeath totally kicked OUR asses' Tatsumi replied 'Second, stop picking up fights with strangers!"

"Puck stop that! You are being mean!" the girl said as she puffed her cheeks

"I'm sorry, Lia" Puck replied as he flew back to the girl

"I'm very sorry for that, he usually doesn't behave like this..." the girl said as she sighed "You told us your names, so it's only fair for you to know ours, I'm Emilia"

"Nice to meet you" Tatsumi said making a small friendly smile "I'm also sorry for my partner's behavior, unfortunately, this spirit dragon is really aggressive to strangers" he said sending a glare to Ancalagon

Emilia seemed in deep thought for a moment, Tatsumi was starting to worry that he may have said something wrong. "Anyway, let's heal these people, they certainly must have information on that thief"

"you were going to heal them anyway, you can't stand seeing people in that state" Puck said with a smug expression

Emilia blushed a bit before starting pouting "T-That's not true! They must have some information, right?! They thugs so they must know the thief!"

Emilia kept blurting out reasons for healing the unconscious thugs as Tatsumi just threw a smirk at Ancalagon and crossed his arms "Do you really need for a reason to help someone?" he asked causing the girl to stop talking "If you want to help someone out just do it"

Emilia didn't reply she just nodded before walking to the unconscious thugs and healing them. Tatsumi just stared at her as she used what it looked like magic to him. Don't be mistaken, Tatsumi didn't let his guard down, he was ready to kill the girl in front him if she started acting like...

_You're just worthless hicks from the country right?!_

_The same as cattle!_

_I should be free to treat them however I want!_

Tatsumi shook his head as he dismissed that thought, however he will be cautious around Emilia, he will not make the same mistake he made with Aria.

After a few minutes, the three thugs were conscious again though they were still felt the pain of their injuries, they seemed to be scared of Puck for some reason. Unfortunately Emilia wasn't able to get them to tell anything.

"You know, partner, I think we can just leave" Ancalagon said as he landed on Tatsumi shoulder.

Tatsumi sighed and shook her head "No, I kinda feel bad for her, and a bit guilty, I didn't stop that girl from before"

"Huh? How could you have known? We just found ourselves in this place" Ancalagon shot back

"Well, we must start learning about this place from somewhere maybe she could help us" Tatsumi replied

"You seem to trust her way too much for someone of the Night Raid" The dragon remarked

'I don't trust her, I will kill her if she turns out to be the nobles of the capital' Tatsumi replied through the mental link before walking towards the thugs and Emilia "Let me have a word with them" he said to the girl as he lowered himself in front of the thugs. His eyes were now sharp and predatory, in that moment he was Tatsumi of the Night Raid.

The thugs froze in place when they saw his eyes and diverted their gazed

"Blonde, with red eyes, she's a small girl with a scarf, do you know her? she stole something really important" The assassin asked

"As if we would tell you that" The thug that first attacked him replied.

"It looks like I'll have to force you" Tatsumi said as he clenched his fists

"W-Wait Tatsumi!" Emilia squeaked

"IT WAS FELT! SHE LIVES IN THE SLUMS WITH OLD MAN ROM! THAT'S ALL WE KNOW! PLEASEEE DON'T KILL UUUUUUS!" the shortest one shouted with tears falling down his cheeks

Tatsumi nodded and got up "Go before I change my mind"

The three thugs immediately bailed out without looking back.

"Well, they are fast in running away" Ancalagon remarked "I bet we'll not see them for a while"

"Where you really...going to kill them?" Emilia asked as she brought her hand to her chest while Puck just stared at him.

Tatsumi scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassed "Of course not, I was just scaring them"

"oh...that's a relief" Emilia said as she sighed in relief

'You say that but the killing intent coming from you was...immense to say the least' Puck thought 'His demeanor changed in an instant, he was giving off good vibes even though he was wary of Emilia...then he shut down all of his emotions...I wonder what you really are mister Tatsumi' The Spirit then had an idea and tried to see inside the young man's being...Puck found himself blocked then he noticed that Ancalagon was now glaring at him. 'So that's how it is huh?'

"Do you know where the slums are?" Tatsumi asked

Emilia nodded "Yeah, I know the way"

"Then we should go before they sold whatever they stole from you" Tatsumi said calmly

The girl raised an eyebrow "We?"

"of course, after all, I let that thief escape" Tatsumi replied nodding

"but it's not like you could have known! You don't have a reason to help me" Emilia shot back shaking her head

'She just can't accept help' Tatsumi thought as he sighed internally. To be honest, he had a reason to help her, information gathering, Emilia seems to be familiar with this place, he will use her to get all the information he needs "How about this, if I help you, you will owe a favor in this way we both get what we want"

"But my daughter is more than capable to look after herself without your help" Puck said as he crossed his small arms

"The slums are full of criminals and desperate man, if a beautiful girl like Emilia is seen there she will probably be attacked. Not counting the fact that the people who took away her...thing aren't probably to give it back, maybe they'll just surrender if two spirit users show up instead of one" Tatsumi explained calmly

"well you look a lot scary" Puck remarked

Emilia crossed her arms and nodded "I think I can work with that but you have to tell me what do you want in exchange "

"I literally have no idea right now, maybe I'll come up with something after we find your...?" Tatsumi started to say

"My insigna...it's really important for me" Emilia replied

"Soooo do you know the way to the slums?" The assassin asked crossing his arms

Emilia tilted her head as she nodded and started walking out of the alley followed by Tatsumi. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at the young man and spoke "You are not from here, are you Tatsumi?" she asked getting a nod from Tatsumi "Then what brought you here?"

"I don't even know of this city is called" Tatsumi admitted chuckling "I just woke up here with Ancalagon, I can't read the language of this place nor the costumes of this land"

'Oi Oi! Why are you telling her all of this?! What if she's evil?' Ancalagon said through his mental link with Tatsumi

'If she thinks that I'm hopeless and clueless, she will show her true nature more easily. If she's evil, I'll just strike her down like those back in the empire' Tatsumi replied

Emilia stopped her tracks and looked at Tatsumi dead in eyes as she took a deep breath "WHY ARE YOU HELPING ME IF YOU ARE IN AN EVEN WORSE SITUATION?" She shouted as Tatsumi chuckled a bit "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"

"Nothing, it's just that you reminded me of someone I knew" Tatsumi replied shaking his head as the image of a certain pink-haired girl flashed in his mind, without him noticing a bittersweet smile appeared on his lips.

Emilia remained silent for a few moments before sighing "Well...I can't accept help from someone in your situation...you should be the one asking for help..."

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow before shrugging "If that's your problem then I'll immediately tell you what I want in exchange for my help"

"You said that you had no idea" Emilia muttered

"But now I do, do you want to hear it or not?" Tatsumi replied with a smirk as the girl nodded "You'll marry me"

Emilia widened her eyes as her face turned crimson red as she stumbled back a bit "Y-You can't be serious...I'm a half-elf with silver hair...no one would want to stay with..." she started mumbling as she stared to the ground

"Why wouldn't someone stay with someone like you? In my opinion you're quite beautiful" Tatsumi replied shrugging as Ancalagon, who was resting on the young man's shoulder, nodded in agreement.

"DETROIT SMASH!" Puck shouted as he punched Tatsumi on his cheek playfully.

Ancalagon simply curled up but kept an eye on the little cat as Tatsumi raised an eyebrow "What's that for? And what's a Detroit?"

"First. HOW DARE YOU TO ASK MY DAUGHTER'S HAND WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!" Puck shouted as he flew right in front of Tatsumi's eyes "Second. I don't know, I just thought it sounded cool, I guess?"

"Okay? So when you're angry you start speaking nonsense, got it" Tatsumi replied with a challenging tone

"I'm not angry! Quite the opposite!" Puck replied as he crossed his arms.

"Is that so? Good to know then" The assassin said nodding "Anyway...what's an elf? And why having silver hair is a problem?"

"I take it all back, I'm angry at you" the cat spirit said as he flew back to Emilia

"you really don't know anything...?" Emilia asked as she was able to snap back to reality.

"Nope, that's why when you'll marry me, you'll teach me everything of this place" Tatsumi replied causing Emilia to start rambling of why she couldn't accept his proposal.

'Well, her embarrassment seems quite genuine, I'm not getting any bad vibe coming from her' Said Ancalagon

'Or she's very good at acting' Tatsumi replied coldly 'We'll see'

Tatsumi scratched the back of his head "I was just kidding, but I could use a safe place to stay..."

Emilia sighed "You were aiming at this all along weren't you? You just wanted to give me an heart attack..." she said as she nodded "Okay then, if we retrieve my insignia I'll give you a place to stay..."

"You really are an angel" Tatsumi replied nodding

'Hugh...now I have diabetes' Ancalagon said as Tatsumi smirked.

Emilia sighed and nodded. The two of them kept walking in silence, Tatsumi was analyzing his surroundings as if trying to find something familiar. Emilia was also looking around but what interested her was the young man next to her.

'Puck what do you think of him?' she asked

'Well, he isn't a bad person if that's what you want to know' Puck started saying calmly

'That's it?' Emilia asked

'Well, usually I would look inside his mind but his spirit is keeping me out...but I can tell you one thing, his eyes have seen many terrible things' The Spirit said 'And from what I saw before, he's not someone stupid or easy to trick. I don't think he's lying about not knowing how he got here, just look at him.

Emilia slowly nodded as she then openly stared at him, she immediately understood what Puck meant. Tatsumi was studying his surroundings, behind his sharp and cold gaze there was a hint of doubt and confusion of someone who just found themselves lost.

She widened her eyes when that cold gaze caught her, it softened a bit but not entirely, she understood one thing, Tatsumi was still conflicted if he should trust her or not...something started bothering her...was he wary of her because of her appearance?

"Emilia?" Tatsumi asked raising an eyebrow

The half-elf snapped back to her senses "I wanted to ask you of something..." she blurted immediately regretting it "Do you know of...Satella?"

"Who?" Tatsumi replied shaking his head "never heard of her, who is she?"

"Nothing..." Emilia said sighing as she spotted something that caught her eyes.

It was a little girl with bright green hair styled in a bob style haircut and light blue eyes. She was standing at the side of the road with a panicked expression.

Tatsumi traced Emilia's eyes and also saw the little girl but he didn't say anything he wanted to see what the silver-haired girl was going to do.

"Let's go help her, Tatsumi" Emilia said calmly as she started walking towards the girl.

"Even though we must find your insigna?" The young man replied

"That can wait, after all, we already know who and where" The girl replied as she reached the girl and started speaking to her.

Tatsumi watched as Emilia awkwardly tried to interact with the little girl, he noticed how the situation started to go downhill as the little girl started to get scared of Emilia...

'She's evil! The little girl is scared of her! Let's kill her!' Ancalagon shouted mentally as he chuckled before getting hit by Tatsumi in the head

'Stupid, that's not it' Tatsumi replied shaking his head. He knew the difference between being scared because a noble is approaching you and you know that's he's going to have fun with you and being scared just because a stranger is approaching you while being lost. When he was in the Empire it was rare to see kids going around since the nobles and the guards usually used them as objects of their depravations, the girl in front of Emilia was just scared due being lost and being approached by a stranger. The Assassin approached the girl and lowered himself, then he grabbed Ancalagon and showed him to the little girl. "Do you know this is?"

The girl looked at him, then at Emilia and then back to Ancalagon who spread out his wings.

"It's...a dragon!" The girl said as she smiled "Can I...touch it?" she asked excitedly as her eyes lit up, her previous statement seemed to have caught the attention of those passing by

"why don't you ask him?" Tatsumi replied with a friendly tone

'Oi! I'm not a pet!' Ancalagon replied enraged

'Shut up and be nice and cute' Tatsumi replied coldly

"Can I touch you mister dragon?" The girl asked

Ancalagon stared at her before nodding "Sure help yourself"

"It talks!" The girl shouted she started to stroke Ancalagon's head as Emilia tensed up a lot while the people around them started whispering. Tatsumi noticed the sudden change with their surroundings and kept his guard up. "What's your name?"

"Ancalagon the Black Red-Eyed dragon" Ancalagon replied as he seemed to enjoy being stroked "And yours?"

"I'm Plum!" she replied happy

"Are you lost Plum?" Emeilia asked

The question seemed to cause Plum to remember her conditions since her expression turned a bit grim as she nodded.

Emilia offered her hand "come on, let's find your parents" she said with a gentle and warm smile.

'Well, she doesn't seem to be acting' Tatsumi had to admit as Plum grabbed Emilia hand and started following her. Tatsumi dismissed the thought as he silently walked next to them, his expression was gentle even though his eyes were watchful. He spotted a woman with a panicked expression through the crowd and simply tapped Emilia's shoulder before pointing at the woman.

He wasn't surprised when the woman immediately spotted Plum and ran towards her with a relieved expression. Tatsumi stood behind Emilia like some sort of guardian as he saw how the little Plum and her mother thanked the half-elf for helping her.

Plum then looked at Tatsumi and Ancalagon and smiled "Thank you nii-chan and mister dragon!" she said as Tatsumi stroke her head

"You are welcome"

With that the little girl and her mother walked away and Emilia returned to Tatsumi, she noticed how there was softness in his eyes now "You seem happy"

Tatsumi slightly nodded "Yeah, from where I come from people this happy are rare..." he muttered

Emilia raised an eyebrow at that and started wondering from where Tatsumi comes from, she wanted to ask him but she didn't want to ruin the mood.

"How much before we reach the slums?" Tatsumi asked as they returned marching.

"We should arrive before sunset, if we quick our pace we may be able to arrive there even earlier" Emilia replied as the young man next to her nodded before silence fell over them.

Emilia was right, the two of them reached the slums in the late afternoon, the only problem now was that they didn't know where this old Rom lived...

Tatsumi checked his surroundings and saw how everyone was looking at them, hatred, envy and many other not so positive feelings were being sent with those stares.

The young man and the half-elf came across a man who didn't seem to be bothered by their presence.

"Hello there" Tatsumi said with a friendly tone as the man stopped his tracks "We are looking for a person called Felt, we commissioned something from her"

"Felt? I see" The man replied as he brought his hand to his chin "Follow this street, take a left turn and keep going straight, you should see a quite big warehouse, that's where the Old Man Rom lives and where Felt does her business"

"Thanks" Tataumi replied

"No problem brother" the man said as he walked away

"Tatsumi..." Emilia whispered as he stopped walking and looked at her

"Yes...?"

"You lied to that man" She said calmly "We are not here because we commissioned something..."

"In slums like these ones being honest isn't the smartest move, we probably look like a trouble for those who live here. I lied so that they know that we are here for business and not to arrest them all for what they are cooking up in their houses" Tatsumi replied calmly as he restarted walking

"You seem very familiar with places like this, Tatsumi" Puck said as he appeared on Emilia's shoulder.

"Back in my land the slums were a common thing" He replied calmly shrugging as they finally reached the place they were looking for "Emilia, you stay here and wait, if everything goes well I should be back soon"

"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Emilia said shaking her head

"No, you are the owner of the insigna, if you show up they probably will try to kill you, I want to see if we can end this peacefully" Tatsumi replied "Anyway, can you give me some money? I will try to bargain for your insignia..."

Emilia blinked a few times "I don't know what idea of me you have but I don't have any money"

Tatsumi could hear Ancalagon's laughter inside his head as he sighed and nodded "I...will come up with something" he said as he started walking towards the warehouse.

He knocked at the door and waited for a few seconds, he could hear two people talking inside. The door opened and Tatsumi saw Felt standing in front of him "You are not my client..." she said as she widened her eyes "Wait! You were the guy that almost sent me to the afterlife!" she shouted as the man behind her tensed up

"It wasn't my intention" Tatsumi replied immediately

"So what are you doing here?" she asked

"I'm looking to buy something from you" Tatsumi replied

"Oh? Then come in, I have lots of things you'll probably found interesting" Felt replied as they got inside "Do you have any preference? I have jewelry and other fancy stuff"

"An insignia, with a jewel in the middle of it" Tatsumi replied as he sat down.

Felt looked with wariness at Tatsumi "That was a commissioned job, if you want it you'll have to convince my client or pay more than her offer"

"Is that so?" Tatsumi replied nonchalantly "Then I'll wait for this client of yours" he said as Ancalagon jumped on the table and looked at both of Felt and the old man

'Shit...he's a spirit user' Felt thought as the idea of forcing him to leave just flew out of the window 'wait...is that a dragon?' she thought as someone knocked on the door.

Tatsumi remained emotionless as Felt walked towards the door, his plan was simple, he would intimidate the one who commissioned the theft and get the insignia. If this doesn't work, he will follow the commissioner and knock her out where no one can see, get the insignia and return to Emilia.

Felt opened the door and a woman with a black dress entered the room. She had long black hair tied into one tail on the left side along with eyes that droop, giving her a gentle aura which didn't fool Tatsumi, behind those eyes he could feel something akin to bloodlust. She seemed to immediately notice him and Ancalagon and looked at Felt with an inquisitorial stare.

"Oh yeah, this guy is also interested in that insignia" Felt said

"Ara? How unfortunate" the woman said giggling as she sat in front of Tatsumi "Aren't you a handsome one?"

"My beauty is nothing compared to yours" Tatsumi replied with a small smirk 'Oh for fuck's sake why I attract only dangerous women in my life?'

"Oh, you're a true gentleman, it sure a rare thing to find in the slums" The woman said still giggling "Now, why do you want that insignia?"

Tatsumi understood that he was missing the entire picture of the situation, Emilia's insignia seemed to be something really important and as far as he could see the people who want it are not very friendly. Other than that, he didn't have any money or something to offer in exchange so bargaining wasn't an option. He had the feeling that all of this isn't going to end well...

"You stole it from someone I know" Tatsumi replied calmly "I don't have any money to offer you, but instead I have a small room with no windows and lots of bars" he said as Felt widened her eyes when she understood that he was talking about jail.

"My my, and here I hoped that you were a professional enough to recognize a knight in disguise...oh well, I was planning to kill you all anyway..." she said as a wicked smile appeared on her face.

'Oh shit...here we go again' Tatsumi thought as he pushed away Felt and blocked the woman's blade with Incursio's key.

"Oh? You blocked my attack?" The woman said as she jumped back and licked her lips

"You shouldn't announce your attack" Tatsumi replied as he blurred in front of her and swung his sword at her, she dodged the attack but to her surprise Tatsumi was swinging his sword at her again, she was forced to block.

Tatsumi backed away immediately dodging a second blade also belonging to the woman.

"Interesting" she said as her face became a bit red due being excited

Tatsumi didn't waste any time in replying, he just dashed front of her and started exchanging blows with her.

Both of them weren't able to land a hit on each other, and both of them understood that they weren't fighting against a normal human.

"I'll show you what happens when you try to kill us!" The Old Man shouted as he launched a surprise attack.

"NO, DON'T!" Tatsumi shouted as Elsa dodged the surprise attack and aimed at the old man's throat with her knife, the assassin of the Night Raid was only able to kick the arm of the woman with little result since the blade still went through Rom's shoulder but at least it wasn't a deadly wound. "OLD MAN!" Felt shouted horrified as someone kicked down the door...of course, It was Emilia.

"Tatsumi?!" She shouted in shock as the female assassin appeared in front of her ready to strike Emilia down, unfortunately for her, Puck already created a barrier and so her attack was useless and Tatsumi was already on her.

Blood was sent in all direction as Incursio's key cut the back of the woman. It wasn't a deep wound since the woman immediately moved away but it was a solid hit. Puck didn't let her recover and immediately started to send her...lots of pointy pieces of ice...

At first, Tatsumi's blood froze when he saw the ice but sighed in relief when he saw that it was Puck's doing.

The woman was dodging his attacks though due to the wound on her back her movements were slower. She also looked quite excited, the smirk she had until now was nowhere to be seen.

Tatsumi placed himself next to Emilia with a serious expression, he saw how the injury he caused was already healing.

"I'll take it from here, Tatsumi" Puck said as he then looked at the woman "Now, do you have any last words miss assassin?"

The woman didn't reply, she just threw a look at the spirit and then to Tatsumi, her eyes were awfully similar of Esdeath's not in the color nor the shape, they were the eyes of a battle maniac...who now seemed interested in Tatsumi.

Puck started launch ice shards at the woman, who dodged them all quite easily. Tatsumi wanted to help him but it would mean getting in the cross-fire, he limited himself by just defending Emilia and Felt by any possible attack, his attention was also on the bleeding old man on the floor, he really wanted to help him since he technically jumped into battle to help him but he was too close to the woman.

Tatsumi sensed a sudden movement next to him and saw Felt getting ready to jump into battle probably aiming at helping Rom.

Tatsumi grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stay still "What are you doing?!"

Felt started flaying "LET ME GO, I HAVE TO HELP HIM!" she shouted

Tatsumi shook her a bit "Idiot, the only thing you are going to do is get yourself killed!" he said as he threw a glance at the exit "if you want to help him, go look for someone to help us!" he shouted as he pushed her towards the exit.

Felt looked at him with a conflicted expression before running away.

'She's going to run the whole city while screaming her heart out' Ancalagon commented

Tatsumi sighed, he may have been a bit cruel with that girl, she's not going to find anyone, these are the slums there is no knight, no guard or someone willing to help...that's how the slums are, he needed her to go away, of course, he kinda stole the insignia when he grabbed her, he couldn't fully trust a thief after all.

Puck yawned before looking at the woman "Let's end this"

Until now, none of the ice shards hit the assassin in front of Emilia and Tatsumi but suddenly the ice around her wrapped her feet and forced to stay still.

"Sayonara!" Puck shouted before he launched a massive ice attack.

There was a loud boom and then silence.

"That was a close one..." The woman whispered when the dust settled down

"I'm sorry Lia...I need to rest...you know what to do in case you need me" Puck said getting a nod from Emilia as he returned inside the crysvtal on the girl's neck.

"Can you still going?" Tatsumi asked

"Yeah but I don't know if I can keep up with her" the half-elf replied nodding

"Then help that man, I'll deal with her" Tatsumi ordered as Emilia nodded

"Do you think that I will let you do that?" The woman asked with a wicked smile

'Ancalagon...are you even capable of doing something?' Tatsumi asked

'Of course, I can!' the dragon replied

'Then protect Emilia' Tatsumi said as the small dragon flew next to Emilia "Go!"

The half-elf immediately started running towards the injured man, the woman immediately ran after her but she was blocked by a wall of fire.

"Another spirit, I sure found some interesting opponents" The woman said chuckling darkly as she then looked at Tatsumi "Oh well, I guess I'll have to move to the main dish"

"Sorry, but I think this will not go as you planned" Tatsumi replied with a deadly serious expression as he charged at her once again.

Emilia was a bit surprised, to say the least, Ancalagon, Tatsumi's spirit was protecting her, she watched the small creature creating a giant wall of fire just by breathing. Then she looked at Tatsumi, despite the fact he told her that he was lost and had no clue how he got here, he was fighting a deadly assassin calmly instead of panicking.

Tatsumi facepalmed internally as he fought...yes, Ancalagon protected Emilia but set the whole place on fire which was quickly devouring the wood of the warehouse. He noticed that the woman didn't have her cape anymore, a change that happened after Puck's last attack since then she has been avoiding getting near the fire...he could use this as his advantage.

He started getting faster and his blows started to get stronger, the woman kept blocking and dodging until...her blades broke.

The even surprised her and caused her to stumble back a bit on the fire, she quickly moved her body forward in order to escape the flames...only to meet Tatsumi waiting for her. In the blink of an eye, Tatsumi rammed his sword in the woman's belly causing her to vomit blood, then with a swift motion he removed the sword sending blood in all direction.

The woman fell on her knees keeping her hands on her wound in order to avoid her internal organs to fall out.

Tatsumi looked down at her, his eyes cold and sharp before he noticed something

The woman wasn't bleeding any more.

His senses screamed at him to dodge and so he did avoid another pair of blades. He jumped back and saw how the woman slowly got up, her expression full of hatred and rage. She probably didn't like being disemboweled.

She literally became lighting fast, her attacks were relentless and stronger than before. The member of the knight raid understood that she held back a lot probably because she wanted to toy with him but since he humiliated her, she decided to full power in order to get revenge.

In the meantime, Emilia understood that she could not heal the man safely while being surrounded by flames and so she used all of her forces to lift the wounded man. She could see Tatsumi's blade clashing against one of the woman's blades before jumping back in order to avoid the other one. Their fight was shockingly fast and each time their blades clashed they would send a small shockwave all across the room.

Tatsumi saw Emilia dragging out Rom as Ancalagon protected her, he decided that it was time to end this since he didn't know if Ancalagon would be able to protect the half-elf now that their opponent got stronger

The woman widened her eyes as she jumped all the way back across the room which was getting consumed by flames. She looked at him like an animal who sensed immediate danger coming...

'So even when consumed by rage you still tell when to retreat huh?' Tatsumi thought as took a deep breath and raised Incursio's key high above his head "INCURSIO!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he slammed the sword on the ground and a pillar of fire enveloped him.

Tatsumi felt his body...changing...shaping itself into incursio, the transformation didn't come from the key, it came from inside of him, it wasn't painful it was just weird...the flames disappeared and revealed Tatsumi, his armor was the same he had before turning into a dragon with a small exception, on his chest there were black markings spreading from it...Tatsumi knew that was Murasame's curse waiting for Ancalagon to try to get his body back in order to kill him permantely. Tatsumi's wings were folded but still visible and Neuntote was in his hand.

Emilia looked at Tatsumi with a shocked and amazed expression, her eyes were glued on his wings and helmet. She had to force herself to look away as she took old man Rom away from harm

The woman analyzed her opponent, everything about him screamed 'I'm going to mop the floor with you' not counting the immense killing intent that was coming off from him. She was ready for the fight to come...or so she thought.

Everything was over in the blink of an eye. Tatsumi charged at the woman and thrust his spear aiming for her chest, she tried to dodge the attack knowing that she wouldn't be able to block it but he was too fast. The spear went through her chest and then with a loud sonic boom sent her through the wall and crashing into several buildings before stopping.

Tatsumi walked out of the warehouse before it collapsed on itself due to the fire and analyzed his surroundings.

He immediately caught someone with his eye, a tall, handsome young man with flaming red hair and blue eyes behind him there was Felt who had wet eyes, next to them there was Emilia who was focusing on healing Rom.

The red-haired man was staring at him a mixture of awe and curiosity before he smiled at Tatsumi and started walking towards him "Hello there" he said with a friendly tone "You did a great job with the bowel hunter, unfortunetely, I just arrived otherwise I would have lent you a helping hand"

Tatsumi analyzed the man in front of him, he seemed quite friendly and he didn't seem to be lying when he said that he just arrived. "bowel hunter?"

The young man nodded "Yes, The woman you just fought was Elsa Granhiert, she's a very notorious criminal...but where are my manners, my name is Reinhard, it's a pleasure to meet a new fellow knight, I thought I met all of them"

'Knight? Me? A knight?' Tatsumi thought as he forced himself not to chuckle. The idea of him being a knight was ridiculous to say the least. In his book, a knight is someone who's like a hero that prides himself in honor that fights fairly...that's was the opposite of what Tatsumi was, he is an assassin who doesn't hesitate in striking his opponent down when his back is turned, who hides in the dark waiting for the moment to jump on his prey, someone who's willing to use tricks in order to win.

Tatsumi also analyzed the words of the man in front of him, Reinhard knew that Tatsumi wasn't from around here, he probably guessed that Tatsumi was a knight due to his armor and the fact he just killed the bowel hunter, someone who can't be brought down by a simple guard. For now, he'll just introduce himself and see what happens.

"The name is Tatsumi, the pleasure is mine" He replied calmly as he nodded "If I may ask, how you got here?"

"I found this little girl running around begging for help, she told about a woman that matched Elsa's description and how you and Lady Emilia were fighting her and so I decided to help you." Reinhard said calmly as he gestured Felt.

Tatsumi threw a look at the small thief and nodded "I see, fortunately, I was able to handle the situation correctly" He said as Reinhard nodded

"And you have my gratitude" he replied

Emilia, in the meantime, finished healing Rom and walked towards the two knights as Felt rushed on the injured man's side. She stared at him for quite long making Tatsumi selfconscious of his condition.

"Oh sorry" he said calmly as another pillar of flames wrapped him before disappearing revealing Tatsumi without armor.

This greatly impressed both Emilia and Reinhard as Ancalagon landed again Tatsumi's shoulder "Cool, isn't it?" he said

Reinhard looked at Emilia and then back to Ancalagon with a silent question "Say, Tatsumi...you have formed a contract with that dragon...?"

Tatsumi didn't know how to reply to that 'do we have a contract?'

'I mean yes, you use all my cool powers and when you die I'll return inside my body and do whatever I want' Ancalagon replied calmly

'What about the curse?' Tatsumi asked

'When you'll die the curse will go away not having anything left to kill' Ancalagon replied

Tatsumi looked at the two of them and nodded "Yeah, me and Ancalagon are partners after all" Tatsumi replied scratching the back of his head as Reinhard blinked a few times in surprise before looking at Felt, he then approached her and leaned on her "I think you owe her some apologies and give her insignia back" he whispered to her ear as he slipped the insignia back in her pocket, he frowned a bit when he saw the thing glowing in his hands but just shrugged it off.

Felt slowly nodded as she got up and walked towards Emilia.

Tatsumi just looked in their general direction, the three started talking to each other. Until now, he witnessed a gentle thief, a gentle noble, a gentle knight and a psycho...this was not the empire to say the least, the people, in general, didn't have the same terrified look of those who lived in the empire. He started walking towards the building where he saw Elsa crashed, he was quite sure that she was dead but checking will not hurt...he widened his eyes when he found the crash site...blood was everywhere, her blades were on the ground but her body was missing...How can someone survive with a massive hole to his chest?! Tatsumi quickly rushed to Reinhard

"Reinhard, Elsa is not there" He said serious

"She survived? That attack would kill everyone..." Reinhard said as he brought his hand to his chin "I'll tell my fellow knights to search in this area and put it under control, I don't think she was able to go away from here with all those injuries" he said nodding before looking at Felt "Could you please return the insignia? I swear on my honor that I will not pursue you for what you did"

Felt slowly nodded as she took out the insignia and handed it to Emilia, for some reason, this caused a violent reaction from Reinhard who grabbed Felt by her shoulder and started asking things like 'What's your full name? How old are you?' and so on, then he looked at Emilia and said "I'm sorry milady but it seems like I can't overlook something like this" he said as Felt shouted him to let him go, suddenly Tatsumi placed his hand on Reinhard's shoulder.

A chill ran down Reinhard's spine as he turned to face Tatsumi.

"Reinhard, that's called kidnapping" he said coldly

"Wait, Tatsumi, I don't want to harm her quite the opposite, I want to give her what's rightly hers" The knight replied "I swear on my honor as a knight that no harm will be done to her, otherwise I will let you take my life"

Tatsumi let him go and nodded, his expression was still serious "Very well, just to let you know, I will not hesitate if you hurt her"

Reinhard nodded and ran away while carrying Felt in his arms.

"Well, my job here is done" Tatsumi said as he sighed

"Tatsumi" Emilia called him "Should we go?"

"go? Where?" Tatsumi replied raising an eyebrow

"To my place of course" Emilia replied tilting her head "it was part of our deal wasn't it?" she said smiling

"Oh." That was all Tatsumi could say "lead the way then" he said as the two started walking away...

* * *

**Somewhere in the city**

Al was looking for his mistress, as usual, he wasn't really worried for but he still needed to find her. The knight finally saw Priscilla standing in front of someone.

"Milady, you shouldn't ru-" Al started saying before his blood froze.

Priscilla turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, the person next to her did the same thing.

'It can't be her...she doesn't exist...she's a fictional character...' those were the words that assaulted Al's mind...but his eyes weren't tricking him.

Next to Priscilla there a tall, beautiful, and slender woman with long, light blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a General's apparel with long sleeves with buttons on the upper arms, a blue scarf on her neck, and high-heeled boots.

"P-Priscilla-sama, who's the person with you?"

"Oh? I just met her, Her name is Esdeath, she just told me that she's looking for a fellow spirit user, maybe you know him...it's called Tatsumi" Priscilla said as she looked at her knight in distress clearly amused.

'Spirit user?!' Al thought as a small knight in armor climbed on Esdeath's shoulder

"What is it, Arthas?" Esdeath asked her before the knight whispered something to her. She looked at him with sharp eyes before she started walking away "It was a nice meeting, Priscilla but I must go now"

Priscilla opened her fan and shook her head "I don't think so, come with me, I'll help you looking for this Tatsumi..." she said before looking at Al "get us a carriage, I refuse to walk my way back home"

"Priscilla, I don't have the means to repay you" Esdeath replied with a smirk

"I don't want anything in exchange other than something interesting to see..." Priscilla said as she started laughing...

* * *

**Back to the capital**

Akame did it, she struck down Esdeath. The ice general put her hand on her wound before looking at Akame.

"Now, I die" she said as she started walking towards the giant corpse of Tatsumi.

"Wait! Tatsumi!" Akame shouted before a giant wall of ice blocked her

Esdeath reached her destination and let herself fall on the body's side, she froze herself and Tatsumi before shattering in millions of snowflakes.

The ice general found herself in the darkness, she saw Tatsumi being taken by a black hand

"I will not let you take my beloved Tatsumi away from me!" she shouted as she clung to the young man's body before her vision went black...

When she opened her eyes once again, she was standing in the middle of a square surrounded by people and buildings she didn't recognize. She felt something on her shoulder and when she looked at it she saw a small knight...she knew who that was, it was the demon which was used to create her teigu...

Esdeath smirked as she looked at the sky "Tatsumi...no matter where you are...I will find you and I will never let you go away again" she proclaimed before starting walking...


	2. Chapter-2

**Chapter 2 **

**Hello my readers and welcome back...you may be wondering where did I go and why I haven't uploaded anything, I don't want to be really specific but let's just say that this year has been an all-around disaster for my life and because of this a rarely found myself being able to write anything but I was advised to try to write once again as a way to distract myself from my surroundings so here I am**

**Hope you enjoy the reading **

* * *

**Lugnica**

Tatsumi was sitting inside a carriage which was taking him and Emilia to her house, the journey was silent though he caught several times Emilia staring at him in wonder, the young man cursed himself inside his head knowing very well why the girl next to him was so interested in him...there was also another thought that was bugging him, he was still wondering how Elsa got away with a wound like that he may have underestimated her healing factor...hopefully she will not be able to harm anyone.

"Ehm...Tatsumi?" Emilia called as she played with her hair a little

The member of the night raid snapped back into the real world "Yes?"

"How did you meet Ancalagon?" she asked with a glint of curiosity in her eyes "When I formed a contract with Puck, it was him who found me but I don't think that's the same for you, is it?"

Tatsumi closed his eyes as he came up with an half-lie half-truth "I inherited him" he replied calmly as Emilia tilted her head in confusion "Ancalagon was my bother's spirit"

Emilia's eyes lit up "Was he also a knight?"

Tatsumi smirked "You can say that, he was the greatest knight and the best brother ever, he was able to neutralize one hundred men alone and trained me when I was weak"

"Oh I remember that battle! It was awesome, we were unstoppable!" Ancalagon agreed as he lifted his head

Tatsumi noticed that Emilia's expression was a bit saddened "You are talking about him in the past..." she said

Tatsumi's smirk turned into a bittersweet smile "Yes, he died soon after I became a knight, we were protecting a certain group of people from any possible attempt of assassination...I was not strong enough to save him, it was then that he gave me Ancalagon" he said as he looked at his hand and clenched it into a fist "I promised myself that I would get stronger to protect those who I cared about..."

Emilia was now feeling bad for asking "W-what happened after that?" The half-elf asked a bit scared of knowing the answer

"A lot of bad stuff happened and I'm sorry but this is all I can force my heart to tell you right now..." Tatsumi said with a cold tone

'Leave him be Lia' Puck said through his mental link with the white-haired girl 'It seems you touched an open wound'

The girl looked at Tatsumi, who was now looking outside the carriage, and looked down, she was feeling guilty for making Tatsumi remember something bad.

Tatsumi noticed the half-elf with the corner of the eye and sighs 'Maybe I was a bit too harsh' he thought before remembering something he heard when they were getting on the carriage "Hey"

Emilia lifted her head and looked at him "Yes?"

"what's up with the fog? Before we departed I heard the coachman saying something like the fog is something dangerous" The former assassin asked

"When there's fog it means that the Hakugei is nearby" she said calmly "Normally it only takes a short amount to get to the capital from where I stay when using my personal carriage but when there's fog on the path, we are forced to take a long way around."

"Sounds like a monster story" Tatsumi remarked

"it is, the Hakugei is also known as the demon beast of the mist. Many were those who tried to kill it but all of them were killed..." She explained

"Sounds like a danger beast" he blurted out catching Emilia's interest.

"Danger Beast?" She asked raising an eyebrow

"Yes, monsters who wandered around my native land and attack any traveler, many people would ask me to kill them so that they could be safe" Tatsumi said

"So you fought a lot of monsters?" Emilia asked

"Yes...both beasts and humans" he replied whispering the last as he nodded.

The rest of the journey was spent in silent since, as the two traveled, Emilia have fallen asleep while Tatsumi just remained awake as he recollected his thoughts

'A knight! That's funny!' Ancalgon remarked as he laughed in Tatsumi's head

'I couldn't tell her that we were assassins' Tatsumi replied shaking his head

'You could have just said that you were tired and cut off the conversation or something like that' the dragon replied

The former assassin sighed 'Not saying anything would have made her suspicious of me, I just told her the an half-truth with the minimum amount of info'

'Yeah Yeah, you should be grateful because I kept her stupid cat out of your mind you know?' Ancalagon said as he looked at Tatsumi with what seemed to be a smug expression

'Really?'

'Yep! He wasn't too deep in your mind but he was looking just to the surface of your thoughts probably he wanted to know if you had any bad intentions in his owner's regards'

Tatsumi put his hand on his chin as he analyzed what Ancalagon just told him, Puck tried to look inside his mind...this wasn't good, he didn't think that spirits could read the mind of those around them, he will not make the same mistake again, he will make sure to keep his guard up when there's Puck around. 'Thanks'

'Don't worry as long as I'm around he will not get inside partner' Ancalagon said chuckling 'But I want a reward!'

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow 'What can you possibly want?'

'A steak!'

The former assassin giggled a bit 'Sure thing' he said nodding before looking back at Emilia 'I should also rest, wake me up if something happens'

Ancalagon nodded as he climbed on top of Tatsumi's head.

**At the capital **

Elsa was trying her best to not faint because of the massive hole she had on her chest, her healing ability was already working but it will take a while for it to completely seal the wound. The situation around her wasn't good either, there were knights all around the slums searching for her and in her current conditions fighting them would be fatal. She was trying to reach the safe house of her organization but her vision got all blurry as she slowly fell then suddenly she but her lips until blood out of them, the pain made her regain some of her consciousness and she kept stumbling towards her destination.

Rage and Hatred built inside her as the image of the Dragonic Knight flashed before her eyes '...no...he wasn't a knight...' she thought, knowing very well that those eyes didn't belong to a noble knight...those eyes belonged to an ice-cold assassin.

She swore that she will make him pay no matter what even if it will cost her life...

**The next day, Roswall Mansion.**

The sun wasn't even in the horizon but Tatsumi just couldn't sleep, his body was wide awake and his mind was filled with too many thoughts, many along the lines 'no one tried to drug/kill me so far'.

The former assassin decided that he had enough of waiting for someone to attack him and walked out of the room.

Suddenly a yawn caused him to stiffen himself before relaxing...it was Ancalagon, who slept like a baby until now.

"Whatcha doin'" he whispered as he scratched his neck with his paw.

"Just a bit of exploration" Tatsumi whispered back as he started down the corridor...he walked for quite a while before staring at one painting that he has seen at least seven times until now "We're walking in circles..." he whispered ready for any possible ambush at the first moment of notice

"so we go back to sleep?" Ancalagon asked yawning again

Tatsumi shook his head as he opened a door, he was kinda expecting to find himself back at the endless corridor but instead...he found himself staring at a huge library with a spiral stair in the center of the room, he saw a petite girl with long cream-colored hair tied in two twin drills along with blue eyes that have a butterfly pattern at the center. She wore a frilled dress with pink ribbons, tights, and shoes. A tiny crown laid latched upon the rear right side of her hair, with a butterfly-shaped ribbon joining her cape at her sternum. She was sitting surrounded by books and was looking at him with an annoyed look on her expression.

"You found the entrance to my home, I suppose" She said calmly "Ugh...your smell will be everywhere now..."

Tatsumi scratched the back of his head "Well...I guess it's been a while since I had a bath" he joked getting an even more annoyed look by the petite girl.

"That's not what I meant, I suppose" She said as she got up and started walking towards him "Your dragon smell is probably caused by him" she said looking at Ancalagon who wagged his tail a bit "But along with the other smells...you smell of death along with another very nasty thing"

This caused Tatsumi to placed his hand where Akame stabbed him with Murasame. The Petite girl stretched out her hand causing both Ancalagon and Tatsumi to tense up and assume a defensive stance, this didn't go unnoticed since the girl has stopped moving.

"I don't want to harm you, I just want to remove that suffocating smell, I suppose" She said before returning to approach the young man.

Tatsumi was ready to deploy his armor as the petite girl placed her small hand on his chest. He saw her widening her eyes for a second, she then stepped away and returned to her seat without uttering a word.

Once seated, she looked at him with the same annoyed expression but there was something different in her eyes "Go away" she said as the door behind Tatsumi opened "I don't want to smell that scent, I suppose"

Tatsumi silently walked out...

Beatrice looked at her hand and started shaking for a second...if she kept analyzing the curse coming from the young man's scar she would have died on the spot, that curse was death and not death one's body but death of one's existence, something that could kill the mightiest spirit given the opportunity...though she wondered how could he be alive even though the ramifications of the curse were all around his being, then there was another thing that was bothering her.

Besides the smell of death and that slight scent of witch's miasma, there was another smell...the smell of a dragon...Beatrice couldn't put her finger on it but for now, she wanted to believe that it was due the presence of Ancalagon...

The hours passed and Tatsumi was in the middle of the garden doing exercises, he spent all of the early morning looking for any sign of a torture room and something like that, he was kinda relieved that he didn't find anything but he didn't lower his guard. Now he was trying to relax by doing some exercises...if it wasn't for the half-elf girl, who was peeking at him from behind one of the pillars of the gazebo in the middle of immense garden, she's been there for quite a while since now and yet she didn't even try to come to talk to him, Tatsumi could see curiosity in her eyes though there was also something else...

"Milady, is that you?" He asked knowing very well that it was Emilia the one who was watching him, he used the 'milady' since he needed to play the part of the _knight _and also because judging by the size of the mansion she must someone important.

He saw the girl wincing when she heard him and slowly came out of her hiding spot, she was avoiding eye contact "Good Morning Tatsumi..."

"Good morning to you, Milady" he replied nodding a bit as he wondered if this milady-thing sounded a bit off when coming out from his mouth. "What made you wake up this early?"

Emilia scratched her cheek with her index "I could ask the same question" she replied before averting her eyes even more "...I had to make my morning talk with the spirits and then I saw you..."

Tatsumi started wondering why she was avoiding eye contact "I'm used to do my morning exercises early in the morning"

"O-Oh is that so..." she whispered before Tatsumi noticed that she was staring at his neatly folded clothes on the ground

'Oh' Tatsumi said inside his head as he looked at his naked upper body "I'm sorry milady, I haven't realized"

"I-It's okay" she whispered as he put back his clothes "also..."

"Yes?" Tatsumi asked

"You don't have to call me milady..." she said sighing "Emilia is fine"

Tatsumi slowly nodded "Okay then Emilia" he said quite relieved "Yeah, it's better like this"

Emilia nodded in agreement "Yeah, it looked like you were forcing yourself"

"Yeah...we didn't use those honorifics back in my land" Tatsumi admitted causing Emilia to look at him with a puzzled look

"If you were a knight...shouldn't you be used to speak with nobles?"

Tatsumi cursed himself inside, he really spoke before thinking "Well...I'm a Revolutionary Knight" he said causing the girl raise an eyebrow "You see, the government was so rotten that it was impossible to live a normal life without dying of a violent death or starvation...this is why the population and many good-hearted people decided to rise against the government, I served under the command of a famous general and in the end, we won"

"You fought against your own government...?" Emilia said with a shocked expression, the idea of a revolution going against her because of her appearance was starting to form inside her mind

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow, she looked worried, probably for her position he guessed

"Tell me Tatsumi...could a revolution like the one you fought for attack someone for their appearance?" she whispered with a grim expression

Tatsumi blinked a few times in surprise a few times before he remembered when Emilia mentioned something about being a silver-haired half-elf "Is it for that stuff about your appearance?" he asked getting a slow nod from the girl "No, it wouldn't attack someone like you" he said with a serious expression "Unless you did something terrible against the population"

"Something terrible?" Emilia asked

Tatsumi crossed his arms "I will not go down on the details since I don't think that you should hear something like that so I'll tell you about the less bloody things" he said "as an example, normally innocent people would get crucified in the main square instead of the real criminals which were usually the guards who were supposed to protect them, the nobles would treat the common folk as cattle and the women who were pretty would be drugged and..." Tatsumi started listing as anger built inside him and he clenched his fists

"THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU MADE CLEAR YOUR POINT ALREADY!" Puck shouted as he came out of Emilia's hair "Lia is way too innocent to hear the continuation of that conversation" he said as he looked at the Half-elf. who had fallen silent since Tatsumi started speaking.

"Sorry Puck, I let myself be taken over by my rage" he said scratching the back of his head before looking at Emilia and widening his eyes.

The Half-Elf had her hands on her mouth and looked like she was about to throw up, not only that, but she also had tears crossing her cheeks "How could your leader let all these things happening?! And why the Nobles were also doing those things?! We are supposed to guide our people and keep them safe and be their examples!"

Tatsumi finally understood what kind of person Emilia was. He understood that Emilia, had already experienced the dark side of the world but not the REALLY cruel side of life, she was taught idealized ideas of how society worked and this is why she is naive on these things.

Puck looked at him and immediately understood what Tatsumi was thinking and gave him the 'don't be too hard on her' look

Tatsumi looked at Puck and sighed as he was about to speak.

"Little girl" Ancalagon said as he seemingly popped out of nowhere "The world is way crueler and evil than you think, so far this place seems a paradise compared from where we come from our old home"

Emilia looked down on the ground "still...something like that should never happen..."

"indeed but at least, as long there are good-hearted people around willing to fight for what is right there can be a brighter future" Tatsumi replied as he crossed his arms

'That was awfully optimistic of you' Ancalagon replied calmly

'It's just the truth, if it wasn't for the men of the revolutionary army and many others, we wouldn't have brought the empire down' Tatsumi replied

"I swear that I will not let that happen..." Emilia muttered causing Tatsumi to raise an eyebrow "I will prohibit something like that..."

Puck looked at Emilia with an approving look while Tatsumi was still puzzled "anyway, didn't you have to talk to the spirits or something...?"

Emilia blushed a bit as she realized that she was behind her morning schedule and slowly nodded "yeah..."

"well, go on then, I'm done doing exercises so I will not distract you" Tatsumi said as he started to walk off

"wait" Emilia called for him "there's no need for you to go away"

"oh, I thought I should have let you and the spirits some privacy" Tatsumi replied scratching the back of his head "Well then...I will just sit here"

Emilia nodded and walked in the gazebo, after a few moments many small lights surrounded her and she seemed to talk to them.

'Are those...?' Tatsumi began to ask

'Yep, spirits, the ones of the lowest rank' Ancalagon replied

'Like you?' Tatsumi joked as Ancalagon looked at him with an outraged expression

'just to let you know, in this form, I am a spirit of the highest rank!' he said as Tatsumi just grinned 'ah ah ah fuck you'

'By the way where were you hiding?' Tatsumi asked the small spirit dragon.

'sleeping on the grass' Ancalagon replied 'The girl woke me up when she freaked out' he added before noticing Tatsumi's expression which clearly showed the fact he wasn't buying it 'I still can't turn invisible you know?'

'Oh, I guess that makes sense' Tatsumi replied nodding 'So what do you think of this place?'

'Well I can't smell blood which is Good I guess' Ancalagon replied calmly 'And you haven't found any secret torture room which is also good...uhm...for now the place seems safe but it's too early to say that'

Tatsumi nodded in agreement 'Yeah, we can't know if they have a shady business somewhere else away from this place, we must not let our guard down'

'Yep though I'm still wondering why are you still following the Night Raid Crusade' The dragon replied 'This is a whole new world, why can't you just mind your business?'

'Do you think that I would be able to let go of another corrupted government? That I would be able to sleep calmly knowing that there are people like Sayo and Ieyasu being killed because some noble wants to have some fun? I just can't let go that life' Tatsumi replied solemnly 'That's just impossible'

'I see...' Ancalagon replied when he then noticed someone approaching them and turned around to see Puck "Oh look the kitty is here"

Puck looked at the Spirit Dragon with a smug expression "You know cats usually eat ugly lizards"

"Then I'm safe since I am a fabulous dragon" Ancalagon shot back

The cat spirit shook his head "Nope, with all those scales you can't be as fabulous as me, you are hard and rough to touch while I'm fluffy and soft"

"Is that so? So you think you won just because of your fur? Fool! Don't underestimate my power!" Ancalagon replied as he used his adaptive abilities to instantly grow fur "See? And look at this" he said as in mere moments he changed the color of his fur

"Uhm...Puck" Tatsumi called the cat spirit catching his attention "Aren't you supposed to be with Emilia?"

"Yeah...but I wanted to thank you" Puck said as he crossed his small arms "You really saved Emilia back at the Warehouse, I have a debt with you that I can't hope to repay"

"There's no need for that" The former assassin replied calmly as he also crossed his arms and looked at Emilia "I just did what I thought was right"

Puck sighed "You know, you are very good at speaking in half-truths" The cat spirit replied as Tatsumi tensed up "At first I thought you were a spy sent from one of Emilia's rivals but then I saw that look in your eyes"

Tatsumi remained silent as his eyes became cold

"You are young and yet you lost many things you held dear more than once and saw many terrible things" the spirit said before taking a brief pause "You constantly check your surroundings as if you are going to be ambushed as soon as you let the guard down, I really can't know for sure what happened to you and I will not ask you to tell me, I'm really grateful and I want to tell you that no harm will come from or Emilia unless you attack us first" He concluded getting a slow nod from the young man "and don't worry, I will tell no one of your background"

"What are you talking about?" suddenly Emilia asked as she approached the trio

"Oh Lia! I was just having a small argument with this ugly lizard" Puck said laughing a bit

Emilia puffed her cheeks "Puck! I told you to not be mean to Ancalagon!" she said before looking at the dragon spirit "Sorry for him...what happened to you?" she asked noticing the newfound fur of Ancalagon

"Nothing too important, I just felt a little bit cold" Ancalagon replied "I'm really warm want to try?"

Puck frowned a bit as Emilia nodded and extended her hand before slowly patting Ancalagon "Wow! You are warm! And also soft! Like Puck!"

The Cat Spirit widened his eyes while the small dragon looked at him with a shit-eating grin. "Okay, that's it! Take this!" Puck shouted as threw a fluffy punch at Ancalagon, who just blinked a few times before narrowing his eyes

"Now you fucked up" he said before jumping on Puck and starting a small fistfight between the two.

Tatsumi in the meantime was lost in his thoughts, there were many things that were bugging like the fact that Puck was able to see a small side of him probably it happened when he let his anger towards the atrocities of the Empire take over his words. Tatsumi came to the conclusion that he already let his guard down to some extent probably because in his mind he already considered this place a safe house. He will not let that happen again.

He suddenly snapped back to reality when someone's laughter reached his ears...it was Emilia's, she was looking at the two spirits comically fighting while also throwing all kinds of silly insults.

The two spirits stopped fighting when they heard the half-elf's laughter

"I guess we'll call it a draw" Puck said

"Fine, since I'm feeling generous I will let you walk away with your honor still intact so be grateful" Ancalagon replied earning a glare from the cat spirit.

Tatsumi looked at Emilia and was dumbstruck by how pretty she was when she laughed, she was really really refreshing. That thought was immediately dismissed when the image of a certain pink-haired girl flashed in front of his eyes.

Tatsumi realized something, since he found himself in this new world, he wasn't able to think about what happened in his old one, maybe it was because he was never truly alone due to Ancalagon always being at his side so he didn't have time to think about those things. He immediately a soul crashing sadness filling his being as his concern quickly went to Akame.

He knew very well how Akame reacts when someone she holds dear dies, she keeps her sadness inside until it explodes all at once, and this time she was the one who ended her friend's life...Tatsumi was also worried about what happened after his death, Akame must have confronted Esdeath after that but did she managed to win? Or...

"...tsumi!"

The thought of Esdeath winning made his blood freeze.

"...Partner!"

Was everyone killed? Did she kill everyone with her trump card?

"TATSUMI!" suddenly Emilia's voice boomed inside Tatsumi's ears.

The half-elf looked really concerned, her face was really close to his but he didn't seem to be bothered. The former assassin then noticed that there were two maids standing behind the half-elf, Tatsumi had met them the night before, even though he didn't speak with them since it was late in night and they were only there to lead him to the guest room, he remembered correctly the blue-haired one was Rem and the Pink-haired was Ram.

"Rem Rem, our guest looks ill" Ram said

"Ram Ram, he's sweating and he's incredibly pale" Rem replied as they both looked worried.

Tatsumi blinked a few times before slowly getting up

"wait Tatsumi! You shouldn't make sudden movements if you're feeling ill" Emilia squeaked

"I'm fine" he muttered as he wiped the sweat from his forehead "I just got caught up into some bad thoughts"

Puck looked at Tatsumi with concerned eyes before sighing "Tatsumi, your tricks don't work on me! You couldn't resist my daughter's beauty and you got overwhelmed!" he said with a smirk. The cat spirit though knew that's not what Tatsumi was thinking, of course, Puck felt the massive amounts of terror coming from Tatsumi but he respected Tatsumi's will and choose to not bring it up.

Rem and Ram also felt it, but also choose to not bring it up since Puck didn't.

"Rem Rem, I already feel violated by his eyes" Ram said breaking the silence

"Ram Ram, He made me do many immoral things in his mind" Rem replied

"What?" Tatsumi asked shocked "I would never do something like that!"

"Rem Rem, our guest denies but his eyes say the opposite" Ram said as she hugged her sister

"Ram Ram, our guests look like he's about to jump on us" Rem replied as Emilia sighed

"Enough you two, he's a knight after all" she said as the two maids bowed and apologized "Anyway, what were you two saying?"

Rem and Ram bowed again "Our Lord Roswaal has returned" they both said as Emilia nodded and looked at Tatsumi

"Come Tatsumi, Roswaal will surely want to meet you" The Half-Elf said as Tatsumi slowly nodded and started following her.

'seems like we're about to meet the owner of this place' Ancalagon remarked as he landed on Tatsumi's shoulder 'We must keep our eyes open'.

The group reached the dining room where everything was ready for lunch, Tatsumi waited a few seconds since he didn't know where to sit. To the assassin's surprise, Beatrice was also there, she was glaring at him but she didn't say anything until she went nuts for Puck.

Then someone entered and Tatsumi hoped that it wasn't Roswaal because otherwise, he will have a hard time trusting this guy.

"Heellooooo" the clown said with a huge smile as he looked at the assassin "You muuuuust beeee Tatsuuuuumi, yes?"

'For fuck's sake' Tatsumi thought as all of his red flags rose up "Yes, I am"

"It is pleasuuuuure to be aaaable to meet someone like yoooooou" he said still smiling "I'm Roswaal L. Mathers, owner of this mansion"

"Likewise" Tatumi forced himself to reply

"Roswaal-sama, the lunch is ready" Rem said as everyone took a seat.

The maids quickly served the lunch while Tatsumi could feel Roswaal gaze analyzing him, Emilia and Beatrice were eating even though the drill-haired loli was throwing him some curious looks.

Tatsumi was calmly eating as a noble would, he had learned the way to act like one during his time as a member of the Night Raid, it was essential to infiltrate among the nobles in order to strike down his targets.

"Your timing seems to be extremely convenient you know, mister Tatsumi" Roswaal said dropping his weird way to talk and narrowing his eyes at the young man.

Tatsumi's eyes steeled themselves as he stopped eating "I beg your pardon, Lord Roswaal but what do you mean by that?"

"Well, I'm just saying that the appearance of someone like you seems extremely convenient considering that soon the royal selection will take place...and aside for that, you started to help Emilia" Roswaal explained calmly with a smile

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow "What helping Emilia has to do with the Royal Selec..." he widened his eyes as the realization struck his mind, he slowly looked at Emilia "Please tell me you're not a royal candidate"

Roswaal started laughing at his shocked expression and the same thing did Puck. Emilia made a nervous laugh "Well I would be lying if I said that"

'Uuuuh looks like we got ourselves in a dangerous situation' Ancalagon teased 'What are you gonna do?"

'Shut it!' Tatsumi replied inside his head as he tried to think for a plausible excuse to get himself out of this situation...he found none

The assassin sighed as a crazy plan formed into his head "You got me" he said causing everyone but Roswaal to wide their eyes in shock "To be true, I'm looking for someone to hire me as knight or guard, back in my country there's nothing left for me so I came here looking for a job"

"Oh? Interesting" the clown replied intrigued "And how much you would like to be paid?"

Tatsumi scratched the back of his head "I don't really know...I'm still new to this kingdom and I don't know how much money is worth here nor know how to write so I prefer exchange stuff for my services"

"I see I see!" Roswaal said giggling as he clapped his hands "Well how about we make a contract then? I can offer you a room, food, and instruction and when you will have learned everything about currency we can start talking about a salary"

Tatsumi's red flags literally exploded by how fishy the offer was but this was the sort of thing he was waiting for, if he plays the fool, he will be able to see what's behind this place and if needed eliminate the owner.

"And what are my jobs?" He asked

"Well, prevent those nasty people like Elsa get their hands on Lady Emilia to begin with, maybe help in some housework every now and then" Roswaal explained calmly "Of course only if your honor as a knight isn't tainted because of it"

"Deal" Tatsumi replied causing Emilia to choke on her water

"Wait Tatsumi!" she said coughing a bit "There's no need for you to do this! You don't have to work for these things, you already saved me, I'm in debt with you"

"Well that is also trueeee" Roswaal said

"Nonsense" Tatsumi replied shrugging "Back then I helped you because you looked in need of help so it was natural for me, as a knight, to come to your aid...but if you insist there's still that one thing we talked about"

Emilia turned crimson red as she remember his marriage proposal

"Rem Rem, it would seem like we have a perverted knight in our house" Ram said as she placed one of her hands in front of her mouth

"Ram Ram, It would seem like it" Rem replied doing the same thing

"Hey! I heard that" Tatsumi said a bit irritated by the two maids

"Weeeeell theeen it's decideeeed" Roswaal suddenly said as he picked up that weird way of talking "Tatsumi, we'll be on your careeeeeeeeee"

'Come on, just kill him now' Ancalagon said yawning 'Clowns are always evil just be cut right to the case and leave'

'Well...I can't argue with the fact that clowns are evil...the last one we met was a pyromaniac pedo but that's not how Night Raid works, we'll gather evidence and then take action' Tatsumi shot back before his attention was caught by Rem clearing her throat.

"Sir Tatsumi, I will have to take your measurements for the smoking" she said calmly

"Permission Denied" Tatsumi said crossing his arms with a severe tone "A smoking would hinder my performance during combat, I would rather keep my clothes as they are"

"Those old clothes would taint Roswaal's reputation, Rem will sew you a new outfit similar to your current one" Ram replied for her sister who nodded in agreement.

Tatsumi sighed and nodded...

**Slums of the capital**

A Hooded figure was looking at the ruins of Rom's warehouse, the person had slipped past the knight's control and all of this for just one reason...

The rumors of a knight in draconic armor beating the living hell out of one of the best assassins in the kingdom had quickly spread all across the city reaching the ears of the figure and giving it hope to find who it was looking for...

"Stop right there" Suddenly a voice said a few meters away from the hooded figure "Show yourself, I don't want to kill someone by mistaking them for a dangerous criminal"

The hooded figure slowly turned around and saw a red-haired man standing in front of it "I'm not Elsa Grainhert nor one of her collaborators" a feminine voice came out from the stranger's mouth "Who am I speaking to?"

"My name is Reinhard van Astrea" Reinhard revealed as he put his hand on the hilt of his sword sensing that whoever was in front of him was not to be underestimated

"Who did this?" the figure asked in monotone gesturing the ruins of the warehouse

Reinhard narrowed his eyes at the hooded person "This is the result of the battle between an honorable Knight and Elsa Grainhert"

"What's the name of the knight?!" suddenly the figure said raising her finally showing emotions. Reinhard tensed up at that and the figure seemed to acknowledge the knight's reached "please...I need to know" it said in a pleading tone

Reinhard sighed "His name is Tatsumi...I answered your questions now identify yourself"

The figured lowered its hood revealing a young girl with long black hair that reaches down to her knees and red eyes. "My name is Akame" she said as black eagle with red beak and legs landed on her shoulder "This is Thorondor...my companion spirit"

Reinhard stared at the girl, there was something captivating in her whole being, he felt like he was looking at the incarnation of a silent night or of a rose full of poisonous thorns.

"Pleasured to make your acquaintance miss Akame...I'm sorry for mistaking you for a dangerous criminal" The knight apologized sincerely

Akame made a small smile "Do not worry. I'm the one at fault...tell me, Sir Reinhard...do you happen to know where Sir Tatsumi is...?

Reinhard nodded "Yes...Unfortunately, he is no longer here in the capital, he went with Lady Emilia to Roswaal L Mathers territories"

"I missed him..." Akame said with a saddened expression

The knight in front of the girl felt really bad for seeing her like that and smiled "Soon the Royal Election will start and Lady Emilia will return to the capital, I could send her a message about inviting Tatsumi at my place, you two could meet up there...You don't seem like someone with bad intentions, I don't mind you staying at my place"

Akame looked at the man in front of her with wary eyes "I can't accept and besides that we just met, I don't think it's a good idea"

"Please I insist" Reinhard replied "It is clear that you must be one Tatsumi's friends and I'm indebted to him. You may not know but while defeating Elsa, he also protected two royal candidates. His services proved to be vital for the kingdom's safety and integrity, so please allow me to help you"

'The boy seems to work fast' Thorondor spoke inside Akame's mind

'It wouldn't surprise me if he just happened to be at the right place at the right time' the girl replied with a sigh 'What should we do? So far he didn't seem to any signs of malice '

'Nor I picked up any in his mind, though I couldn't look too much into it...his mind is like a fortress' The eagle replied 'I would suggest going with him, we don't know where we are nor where this Roswaal is. If this guy tries anything funny well you know the drill but if he actually keeps his promise we'll meet Tatsumi...We don't know for how long Tatsumi has been in this place, maybe he already gained himself some good reputation, after all, Reinhard called him a knight'

Akame glanced at the red-haired man in front of him and slowly nodded "Okay..."

Reinhard smiled "Thank you for your trust" he said before turning around "Allow me to lead you to my home"

With that Akame started following the knight...

**Priscilla's mansion **

"Al" Priscilla said as she sat in her room "You've been awfully quiet since we returned here" she said as a smirk formed on her face "Or rather since we have encountered Lady Esdeath"

Al, Priscilla's knight, crossed his arms trying to remain as stoic as possible "Milady, may I ask you why would you bring home such person?"

"I simply found her intriguing, a spirit user who didn't know where she was nor to write and yet she fluently speaks the language and knows the way of the nobles and royalty alike" Priscilla said with an amused expression "But you...You know her, do you?"

The knight found himself cornered...like he always does when speaking to his mistress and without any solution to his current situation he simply gave up and chose to satisfy Priscilla's curiosity "Yes milady..."

Priscilla's eyes lit up sparkling with curiosity "Go on..."

Al sighed "General Esdeath is a legend of my land...she was the strongest general of a now fallen empire, she was famous for being a literal monster on the battlefield being able to defeat armies singlehandedly, she was also the most efficient torturer being able to offer the most painful torture while also getting all the informations she needed."

Priscilla expression remained amused "I was right then, General Esdeath is not a mere commoner" she said while nodding to herself "Then you also must know about this Tatsumi she always speaks of, am I right?"

Al nodded "Yes, He was one of the warriors who fought against the Empire, Esdeath fell in love with him not knowing that he was fighting for the revolutionary army in a special squad named Night Riad until the end of the conflict...At the end of it both the members of the Night Raid and Esdeath disappeared and the people simply thought they had died..."

"And instead, they were here...how fascinating...Al, I want you to teach General Esdeath how to read and write" Priscilla said ignoring Al's protest.

Suddenly, the maid standing by the entrance cleared her throat catching the attention of Al and Priscilla, who narrowed her eyes at her "Yes?"

"Lady Barielle, yesterday a knight named Tatsumi has been seen fighting and defeating Elsa Grainhiert, the bowel hunter"

"Who's your source?" The royal candidate asked

"Reinhard Van Astrea, milady" The maid replied causing Al to freeze in place

"Do you happen to know where he is currently located?" Priscilla asked

"I was told that he was accompanied by the Royal Candidate Emilia, if that is true, then he should be at the Court's Magician Residence" The maid replied as the door opened revealing Esdeath in all of her glory

"Oh my...Don't you know that it is rude to eavesdrop someone's conversation?" Priscilla asked with a smirk

"Yes I know, just as rude as to gossip about someone behind their back, you could have just asked" Esdeath said shrugging

"I suppose you're not going to stay here any longer, are you?" The royal candidate said with a cold tone

"Indeed" Esdeath said nodding

"What if I force you to stay?" Priscilla asked

Esdeath's eyes became sharp as Al started sweating bullets "Then I'll be forced to erase the entire block"

Priscilla remained calm as the two stared in each other's eyes "Well, I had no intention to anyway" she said with a smirk "But I have to tell you, Roswaal's residence is a two days journey using the main road and a five days journey using the secondary road. Unfortunately for you, the main road is currently blocked by the fog so you would have to take the second option...but without money I doubt you will be able to go anywhere" she said calmly and nonchalantly "So how about a deal? You wait for the fog to go away and I will have you learn how to read and write our language and other important things and then I will personally accompany you to Tatsumi. In exchange, I simply ask you a few favors and have you as my general once I become Queen"

Al stared at Priscilla in pure disbelief and was about to butt in when...

"I accept but I will not anything that will compromise my relationship with Tatsumi" Esdeath replied

"It wasn't my intention. Emilia, the royal candidate that probably hired Tatsumi, is more of a nuisance than a rival compared to the others so I don't need anyone to win against her."

"Very well" Esdeath said nodding "Deal"

Priscilla smiled while opening her fan and placing it in front of her mouth "The maid will take you to the library so that you'll be able to start your studies"

With that said, The maid gestured Esdeath to follow her and so the two of them walked out of the room.

"Milady! Have you gone crazy?!" Al exploded before being quickly shot down by Priscilla's gaze "I'm sorry...but why have done this?! Esdeath is a genocider if someone ever finds out...Also why would you give her so easily to Emilia?!"

"Al..." Priscilla said with a calm tone "You're contradicting yourself, you don't want her around us and yet you complain about giving her to Emilia, pick a choice" she said "As you said, she is a genocider so keeping her here by force is useless and so it is just better to be friends with her. The royal selection is not about killing the other candidates but to be elected so giving her to Emilia doesn't change anything since she can't use her to kill us and even if she did, do you think a half-elf who kills her rivals will ever be queen? No. With the favors I can ask Esdeath I can keep in check that sly fox of Anastasia Hoshin, her mercenaries will not protect her"

"But didn't you just say that you can't kill your other rivals?" Al asked

"Of course I can't but...if some of Anastasia's precious ships were to be sunk, her trading empire will feel it quite a lot" Lady Barielle replied "And even if Esdeath kills Anastasia...well, she's not my servant...she's Emilia's. Now go, Esdeath is waiting for your teachings, if you don't do a great job I will punish you"

Al scratched the back of his head and nodded "Yes Milady..." he said before walking away

'My mistress sure is scary...'

**Roswaal's Residence **

Tatsumi was patrolling the corridors of Roswaal residence, his newly acquired position as guard allowed him full access to all the rooms of the place...that was a red flag for Tatsumi.

Normally, after hiring a guard, you would give him some off-limits areas where only the contractor could access but instead, Roswaal made sure to tell that he was free to enter anywhere at any time and was allowed to explore all the secret passages if he happened to come across one.

Tatsumi's senses were telling that Roswaal knew that he was suspicious of him and as reaction he gave him full access to the house as if to tell him 'See there is nothing wrong here'.

'Oi, I'm boooooored!' Ancalagon cried out as he chewed on Tatsumi's ear 'Do something!'

'Patrolling isn't always fighting and kicking asses, especially in a calm place like this' Tatsumi countered with a shrug as he opened a door and walked in...only to find himself once again inside Beatrice's library.

The little girls didn't even acknowledge his presence and kept reading her book calmly. Ancalagon looked at Tatsumi with a smirk before going invisible

'What are you even doing?' Tatsumi asked

'Enjoy the show' Ancalagon replied with an excited tone.

Beatrice had finished reading her current page and placed her and on the book in order to turn the page but for some reason she couldn't, she frowned a bit when suddenly Ancalagon appeared on top of her book "HELLO BETTY!"

"KYAAA" Beatrice shouted throwing the book to the ground before starting to paint because of the jumpscare

"Wow these drills must be perfect to fight armored enemies" The dragon said while dangling from one of the girl's bangs

"GET OFF MEEEEEE, I SUPPOSEEEEE!" Beatrice as she started shaking her head in order to throw off Ancalagon

"Weeee free roller coaster ride!" the spirit said laughing.

Tatsumi could move himself to stop the two and watched Betty struggled to get rid of the dragon spirit, she even resorted to using magic but every time she did that, Ancalagon would hide in her skirt.

"What's going on here?" Puck said as he floated inside the library

"A bored a dragon who just found someone to play with" Tatsumi replied with a chuckle

The show lasted a few other minutes before Beatrice collapsed to the ground with Ancalagon on top of her head "I can't take it anymore I supposeeeee..." she muttered before lifting her head only to see Tatsumi covering his mouth with his hand to hide his smile and Puck doing the same thing "B-Bubby? For how long...?"

Puck scratched the back of his head "ehm... a few minutes?"

"Why didn't you help me...?" Betty said as tears started forming on her eyes

"Ugh...Puck the Betrayer, you even made her cry" Tatsumi said while looking at the ceiling to hide his smile

"Eh?! IT'S NOT MY FAULT?! EH?!" Puck said shocked before looking at Betty who was now crying completely

"Let's go Ancalagon, Puck owes Betty some apologies" The knight said as he started to walk away as Puck stared at him in shock

"Don't call me that, I suppose" Betty managed to say between the sobs

Ancalagon looked at Puck with a cheeky smile as he flew past him.

Tatsumi left the room and returned to his patrol which was quite uneventful until he reached the gardens where he found Emilia practicing her magic, he kept watching for a while until the half-elf noticed him "Oh Tatsumi! For how long you've been there?"

"A few minutes actually" he responded with a shrug "I was patrolling just like my job requires and I happened to notice you were doing something"

"I was practicing magic...you couldn't tell?" Emilia asked tilting her head

Tatsumi scratched tha back of his head "Well, that kind of magic is not my forte, I'm good with spirits because I had a great teacher but I didn't have such luck with normal magic..."

Emilia's eyes lit up "Want to learn?"

"I don't want to bother you" The assassin replied politely

"It's no bother! I'm actually curious to see what you can do" The soon to be queen said as Puck appeared next to her "You called?" He asked

"Yes, Tatsumi would like to learn to use magic" Emilia said a bit excited

"Eeeh? The great cospirancy mastermind needs help?" Puck said crossing his arms, he had propbably spent most of the day cheering Beatrice up

"What?" Emilia asked confused

"The kitty made Beatrice cry and he's angry because we called him out" Ancalagon said wagging his tails

"Puck! You are acting so mean since Ancalagon joined us" Emilia scolded

Puck looked at Ancalagon with a shocked expression "You put my own daughter against me! How could you?!" He shouted with an overly dramatic tone

Ancalagon laughed like a villain of a cartoon "What are you even talking about? You put yourself in this situation!"

"Would you two just stop this stupid rivalry, it's fun every now and then but I swear it will end up badly" Tatsumi scolded both as Emilia nodded in agreement

Puck sighed and nodded "Do you know your element?"

"My what?" Tatsumi asked

"I do" Ancalagon said as yawned from the top of his partner's head "Go look it for yourself"

Puck pressed his tail on Tatsumi forehead for a few seconds "Oh wow"

"What is it Puck?" Emilia asked curiously

" You have yin" Puck declared with a smile

"What does that do?" the young man asked crossing his arms

"Well, yin allows you to blind your opponent keeping him from seeing and feeling his surroundings and stuff like that" Puck explain

"As expected from a cat, he doesn't know what he's doing" Ancalagon said as he landed on Tatsumi's shoulder "He also has fire"

"I'm quite sure he doesn't" Puck replied

'Partner' Ancalagon called inside Tatsumi's mind 'Do you remember when you spat fire out of your mouth when you turned into my dragon form?'

'Yes I do and I'm still amazed that my throat didn't receive any damage in the process' The assassin said

'Do it again!' Ancalagon said excitedly

'Hello no, I don't want to burn my throat' Tatsumi replied

The dragon spirit groaned 'There is no need for using your throat! Just shoot it out of your hands! Also you are a dragon for fuck's sake, your inside is made to breathe fire!'

Tatsumi sighed 'Well, here it goes nothing'

He started recalling the moment used fire during his dragon transformation, he tried to direct the sensation of the fire on his hand as he stretched out his hand.

In the meantime, Emilia had taken a few steps backward as Puck conjured a ball of water.

The temperature around Tatsumi's started to increase until a river of fire appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Emilia was amazed and worried at the same time. Tatsumi closed his hand and the fire stopped

"Holy shit I did it" Tatsumi said shocked, he didn't expect to work on the first try

"Language!" Puck scolded him before clapping a bit "Anyway, that was good for a beginner"

Ancalagon snickered causing the cat spirit to glare at him "Anyway, I'll teach you to use yin and to improve the fire part"

"I'll be in your care faster in law" Tatsumi joked

Emilia blushed "Jeez! You're still speaking about that marriage proposal, aren't you?" she said puffing her cheeks

"As long as I can get a cute reaction out of you, I will continue" He replied with a smirk

The rest of the afternoon was spent practicing Tatsumi's yin and Fire, he found both really useful especially his yin since it allowed him to have some advantages against his future opponents. Puck had explained him how everything worked and Tatsumi's inner portal.

He was able to safely use it thanks to Ancalagon's help and his mental training...

"Tatsumi, I was wondering, your land doesn't use magic?" Emilia suddenly asked as sat on the grass next to Tatsumi.

"Not really" He replied "We use certain objects that allowed us to perform some kinds of magic but the knowledge on how to make was lost so they are quite rare" he explained before grabbing Incursio's key "this is one of them, and it's the thing that allowed me to make a contract with Ancalagon"

"Oh...I see" Emilia said with a low tone "It's kind of sad...Most people don't know of spirits then..."

"Yeah...There was one spirit who was a friend of mine, he was called Susanoo, he was awesome, he would have been able to clean this entire mansion in a half-hour tops" Tatsumi said "He was a good spirit..."

"Was?" Emilia asked

"He was killed during the war" Tatsumi said with a heavy heart "He fought against a literal monster in order to allow us to escape from that situation..."

"It must have been hard..." The future queen said with a soothing tone "You must have worked so hard"

Tatsumi felt a lump in his throat for some reason, Emilia's presence was so calming...maybe it was for her pureness that made him feel relaxed even if didn't want to...or maybe it was because after all those years spent fighting he was now away from all of that and now all the sadness for his lost comrades was catching up with him just like before.

"It was so hard" Tatsumi said clenching his fists "I wasn't strong enough and when I was, almost no one was still there" finally tears started to roll down his eyes "I wasn't even able to protect the girl I loved when she came ..."

Emilia rested her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him "I'm sure they never held you responsible for that Tatsumi...I'm sure they knew how hard you worked...They knew how much you cared for them, I don't know very much of love but I bet she loved you a lot and so did you" she said calmly

**Somewhere in the capital**

A certain pink-haired girl was standing in front of three very scared thugs who were kneeling in front of her

"Please forgive us!" The smallest of the three said "We were just trying to survive"

"Well you picked the wrong target, that's for sure" The girl replied checking the pouch she picked off from the three

"First that guy Tatsumi with the witch now this pink hair lunatic" The thug of average size hissed under his breath before finding the girl's weapon on his forehead.

Her eyes showed pure determination and her expression gave off a very dangerous aura "What did you just say?" she muttered

"I DIDN'T WANT TO INSULT YOU! I SWEAR!" The thug said panicking

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT!" The girl roared "TELL ABOUT TATSUMI OR I'LL MAKE YOUR BRAIN EXPLODE, HOW DID HE LOOK LIKE? WHO WAS WITH HIM?! TELL ME!"

"Brown hair, one red eye and one green, he was wearing a white jacket and had a strange-looking sword with a red jewel on it and that's all I saw!" The thug replied

"AND THE GIRL?" the girl asked

"She looked like the witch! Half elf with silver hair! They were looking for a thief named felt! That's all I know I swear!" He replied before falling to the ground

"Get lost before I kill you all" She said biting her lip as the three limped away.

The girl remained still before slowly leaning on the wall and letting her body slide to the ground, tears started to form on the girls eyes as she clung to her weapon "Tatsumi...you're here...thank goodness..." she whispered as a towering figure started approaching her.

"Are you okay there?" The figure asked

The girl looked at the person near her and grabbed her weapon, she quickly wiped away the tears before glaring at the person "That's none of your business..." she said analyzing the person

He was very bulky, he had white strands of hair lining his eyebrows and was bald. He was wearing a sleeveless vest and had a crimson symbol across the side of his left head.

"Well, at least you should hide your tears better" the man said "I'm Rom, what's your name?"

The girl threw him a glance with an irritated expression "Mine..."

"Well, Mine, I saw you dealing with those thugs and I couldn't help but notice that you seemed interested in looking for that guy Tatsumi"

Mine was wary, this was suspicious as hell but it also was the only way to know something more of Tatsumi "What do you know about it him"

"Unfortunately not much" Rom replied with a shrug "He appeared in my warehouse looking for an item and before I realized, he was fighting a crazy bitch who was trying to kill us...I got wounded and blacked out"

"Eh? You don't know anything then" Mine said cursing under her breath

"Wait little girl there's more" Rom replied with a chuckle "When I woke up I was told Tatsumi had saved someone I consider my daughter and that he was following a girl named Emilia"

Mine looked at the man, her eyes told him to continue

"Well, I did some underground research and this Emilia seems to be a Royal Candidate for the Royal Selection which will soon take place and she will have to return and..."

"Tatsumi should be with her" Mine muttered

"Aye"

"...Why are you helping me though? You don't know me" she asked

Rom looked up to the sky and chuckled "That guy saved me and my daughter, I'm indebted to him and I know when I'm dealing with no goods and I can tell you're not and that this Tatsumi is very important to you"

Mine slowly nodded "Yeah..."

"I would offer you to stay at my place but it burnt down" Rom said with a laugh

Mine sighed "Well, I'm not exactly from around here but I have these" she said handing the man the money she got from the thugs

"Oooh those should be enough to rent a room in a good inn" he said with another laugh "And some booze!"

Mine facepalmed but her eyes softened, maybe, she will be able to see Tatsumi again...

**Roswaal's mansion **

The night passed quickly but Tatsumi noticed something strange, Ram and Rem worked the whole day but while the pink one was entirely indifferent to his presence, Rem was actively avoiding him and looking at him when she thought he wouldn't see her...she looked conflicted and scared beyond measure he didn't know why though, he couldn't remember doing anything to make her that scared.

Anyway, now the knight was waiting for his teacher to come and make him learn how to read and write.

"Ugh...fortunately this the only time we'll have to do this..." Ancalagon said as he stretched a bit while yawning

"Do you really think that we'll be done after one single night?" Tatsumi asked raising his eyebrow

"Two nights, one for the language and one for the currency system" Ancalagon replied calmly "You'll find out that adapting doesn't only mean getting bulkier and physically stronger"

Someone knocked on the door and Tatsumi simply got up and opened the door expecting to see Ram but instead, he found himself looking at Rem

"Oh...Hello Rem" he said blinking a few times

Rem seemed to glare at him for a moment before biting her lip and getting inside the room "Your clothes are now complete, try them on so I can make the proper adjustments"

Tatsumi wanted to say something but decided not to, he simply nodded and grabbed the clothes before looking at Rem "Are you going to keep staring at me?"

"I need to memorize your body measurements so that I can more uniforms" Rem replied emotionless

Tatsumi sighed and started undressing leaving only his pants on. His body was covered in scars but the most eye-catching thing was Murasame's curse, which showed itself as a scar in the middle of his chest from where runes of an unknown language would spread.

Rem gasped in shock when she saw the multitude of scars when the curse was the thing that troubled her the most "That is..."

"A curse" Tatsumi said calmly

"Who would place such nasty piece of work on someone? That is pure death...I can tell it from the smell" The maid said in disgust

"Betty said something similar to that" Tatsumi admitted "But believe it or not, that curse was bestowed upon me by a friend in the attempt to help me"

"Help you?" Rem asked tilting her head

"Little Girl, Did Emilia tell you about the place we came from?" Ancalagon asked

"More or less...she said your land was filled with corruption to the point that a revolution started to make things better" Rem replied nodding

"Well, you see, Tatsumi and I, in order to defeat those evil people, became one thing...but in the middle of the chaos I went out of control and I may have started consuming Tatsumi. At that point, one of Tatsumi's companions placed that curse in order to force me out of his body"

Rem remained silent seemingly in deep thought as Tatsumi started to wear his new clothes which consisted black jacket over a slim white hoodie and a black base layer shirt with black pants.

These clothes were almost identical to his previous ones except for the fact that they were made of a fancier material and the fact that his jeans were being replaced with normal black pants but he didn't mind the change since they were tight enough to not hinder his movements.

"They are perfect, you did a great job" Tatsumi said clearly surprised by the excellent craftsmanship of the clothes

"Unfortunately I was able to imitate those 'jeans' of yours" Rem said calmly

"Don't worry about it, they are good enough for me" He replied shrugging

"You look fancy now" Ancalagon said calmly "I like it"

"Well then, I will take my leave then" Rem said calmly as she started going for the exit

"Little Girl" Ancalagon said stopping the maid on her tracks "My partner here may be too kind to tell you but we would prefer not having someone armed right in our room... I saw that morningstar of yours"

Rem stiffened "Only a pervert would look under a girl's skirt" she said before walking away

"You are the worst" Tatsumi said crossing his arms

"EH? I'm sorry but how being worried about the weapon in our room makes me the worst?" The small dragon squeaked enraged

"Oh poor us, she has a morningstar what we will be able to do?" Tatsumi said with a blank expression

"It could have been a magical one!" Ancalagon replied without receiving any reaction from Tatsumi "Or a teigu..." still no reaction "maybe a Shingu?"

"Maybe you're just one little perv" Tatsumi replied with a smug expression before Ancalagon literally jumped on his face and chomped his nose.

Tatsumi immediately started trying to pull away Ancalagon but the spirit didn't want to give...then someone cleared her throat causing the two to look at who just entered the room...it was Ram...and she didn't look very amused...

'Shit' Tatsumi thought

**Roswaal's study, many hours later**

Ram was sitting on Roswaal's lap, she had just returned from teaching Tatsumi and now she was going to report what she thinks of the newly hired guard

"So Ram...what do you think about our new employee?"

"He's scary to say the least" Ram replied calmly "It's true that he didn't know anything about this country unless he is that good at lying...He was able to quickly catch up with everything and in two hours he was able to read heavy politics books , he lacks some terms but he can piece the context and what is being said..." Ram said

"Seems like your teachings are truly excellent" Roswaal joked amused

"I have fear for Rem" Ram confessed in a low tone "Tatsumi doesn't seem to trust us much..."

"What makes you say that? He seemed quite relaxed" the mage asked

"I have this gut feeling... every time I try to look at him without being noticed, he immediately finds me out and the same happens to Rem. His guard is never down and this is without talking about his Spirit...It always watches, sometimes you can't even see it but it's always there...and it doesn't trust us at all"

"Oh?"

"It found out about Rem's weapon" Ram explained

"Make sure that your sister doesn't anything irrational, if what Emilia said about him mopping the floor with the likes of Elsa Greinhart is true then I can't really see Rem doing better than her" Roswaal recommended getting a nod from Ram

**The next day **

Tatsumi sighed as he felt his energy getting lower and lower, he had barely slept at all since apparently Rem told Ram that Tatsumi had looked under her skirt and so the pink haired maid decided to make Tatsumi barely sleep by making him study all night. The good news was that Tatsumi's brain adapted to the new language, Ancalagon said that Ram cruel way of teaching seemed to have triggered the evolution of Tatsumi's brain...the bad news was that after seeing Tatsumi write and read just fine she decided to get the biggest tomes she could find to give him to study...of course, she picked the most boring ones.

"To think that girl was capable of tiring you out despite you being a dragon" Ancalagon said before getting grabbed by Tatsumi and squeezed

"And who's fault is that you little perverted dragon?" Tatsumi hissed while his eyebrow twitched a bit in anger

"Good morning Sir Tatsumi" Rem as she walked into them

Tatsumi looked in her direction and scratched his head "Good morning Rem" he replied before noticing that something was missing "Where's Ram?"

"My sister took a free day because you kept her from sleeping with your incredibly slow learning process" Rem said calmly "Or at least that's Ram said"

"Well anyone would be tired after that one night stand" Ancalagon said while snickering before getting punched into the wall by his partner

"You need help with your chores then? Without Ram your workload has increased, hasn't it?" Tatsumi asked suppressing the urge of not going to on patrol in front of Ram's room with heavy footsteps.

"Rem thinks she can make it" Rem said before slowly turning away

"I insist, after all, It is my fault for Ram's absence. Let me take responsibility" He said smiling before Rem sighed

"Very well Sir Tatsumi, but if you prove yourself to not be suited for this, I will have to ask you to give up" She said before starting what apparently was a never-ending list of stuff that needed to be done.

Tatsumi was honestly surprised by how much stuff Rem and Ram have to do daily and was starting to wonder if Roswaal's fishy business were related to slavery.

The two spent the whole morning cleaning up the place, Tatsumi took it upon himself to clean the place hard to reach like chimneys and gutters, he was now cutting the bushes which was quite easy for him despite having a little of a hard time with the scissors.

"Oh? Tatsumi?" Emilia said surprised the see the knight

"You're awake this early Emilia?" Tatsumi asked not taking his eyes off the bush

"Ehm...you know that it almost lunch time right?" Emilia asked with a small chuckle.

Tatsumi slowly turned around and looked at the position of the sun "Oh..."

"Well I guess you were too focused on the task at hand, weren't you?" She replied smiling "I didn't expect you to be good with this stuff, I thought they didn't teach these things to knights"

"Well, we didn't have servants back in my country, so we used to do stuff ourselves" Tatsumi said shrugging "How are you doing today?"

"Well, it could be better..." She replied with a bittersweet smile "I received a letter from one of the other Royal Candidates..."

"Uhm? Which one?" Tatsumi asked a bit worried.

The former assassin did his researchs one the matter and found out who these Royal Candidates were and so far only Emilia was the only who he knew that she wasn't a bad person and even then, he still thought she was a bit too much naive, he saw her like the Last Emperor in the Empire, a person that could be manipulated by someone like the Prime Minister Honest...

The second seemingly decent person was Crusch Karsten, she seemed like someone with a strict code of honor who seems to deeply care for the well-being of the kingdom.

The third which Tatsumi didn't like much was Anastasia Hoshin, a merchant whose appetite for power seemed to be endless but at least she didn't seem cruel...unlike the last one.

Priscilla Barielle, a noble who thinks that the world and everyone else is her servants and that everything is made to be hers...this is the type of person Tatsumi would have killed off instantly back home...

"Lady Barielle..." Emilia said with a sigh "I wonder what does she want from me"

"Force you to give up the Royal Selection of course" Tatsumi deadpanned causing Emilia to widen her eyes "Yesterday, Ram thought me about to other candidates and from I learned and what I experienced back in my country, I can only think of that...What does Roswaal think about this?"

"He said he can't do anything about it since Lady Barielle would probably show up even if we tell her not to...unfortunately, he said that he will have to depart for the capital...meaning that we'll be the ones who will have to deal with her" Emilia explained

"If she tried anything funny I'll make sure she'll regret it, don't worry" Tatsumi replied dead serious

"Oi Oi! ARE YOU STEALING MY JOB AGAIN?!" Puck said as he appeared next to Emilia

Ancalagon peeked his head from Tatsumi's top of the head "What are you even saying? Me and my partner have been hired as guards of this place and let's be real, a dragon is scarier than a fur ball"

"How did you just call me...?" Puck muttered

"Fur. Ball." Ancalagon repeated before Puck jumped on him

"Shut up overgrown lizard!"

"HEY NO BATTLES INSIDE MY HAIR! THEY ARE ALREADY MESSY ENOUGH WITHOUT YOUR HELP" Tatsumi shouted as he grabbed both spirits and pulled them away from his hair only to see a few strands to fall down.

The knight stopped every movement as both spirits started sweating profusely while Emilia had to turn around to not laugh at Tatsumi's hair conditions

"It's his fault! CATS HAVE NASTY CLAWS!" Ancalagon said looking at Puck "I WAS MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS UP THERE WHEN THIS FIEND ATTACKED ME"

"Wait it's not my fault Tatsumi! He provoked me! Also Dragons have bigger claws than cats! He is clearly the nastiest spirit here" Puck replied shaking his head

"P-Puck...I'll let your contractor deal with you" Tatsumi growled as he let go of Puck "Ancalagon, how about I let you inside my body again...?"

"Please! Spare me! I AM INNOCENT!" Ancalagon shouted trying to escape Tatsumi's grasp

"AS INNOCENT AS THE PRIME MINISTER" Tatsumi barked back

"I can fix those" Suddenly Rem said as she walked towards the two people

"really?" Tatsumi inquired as his eyes softened

"Yes" The maid confirmed nodding

"REM MY SAVIOR" Ancalagon said escaping Tatsumi's hand and hugging Rem's chest "I always knew you were a good person...truly a woman blessed by the dragons...I'm really sorry to have looked under your skirt"

Rem's right eye twitched as she picked up Ancalagon by his tail and brought him to eye level "Just because someone is able to fix the mess you made, it doesn't mean you are safe from the consequences of that mistake" she said before looking at Tatsumi "I'll deal with that mess after lunch before we go to the village" she said before looking at Tatsumi's work "Well, they are good enough"

"I'll take that as a compliment since its the first time at bush sculptures" Tatsumi said shrugging

"Lady Emilia lunch will be served soon" The maid said as Emilia nodded

"Yes, I'm coming" she said before pulling out another letter "This is for you Tatsumi, it's from Reinhard"

Tatsumi narrowed his eyes as he grabbed the letter and opened it while Emilia walked away as Rem seemingly waited for Tatsumi.

The knight started reading...

_Dear Tatsumi _

_Hello my friend, I heard that you were hired by Lady Emilia, congratulations, I'm sure you'll be a magnificent knight for Lady Emilia...Unfortunately, she is not known for having many allies._

_I know you'll be probably disappointed but the knights were not able to find Elsa anywhere despite their best efforts._

_Bet let's have some hood news shall we? Felt is in good condition even though she still fights whenever I try to dress her in order to make more presentable and her tongue is quite sharp. Anyway, yesterday I was back in the slums to see if I could find any of Elsa's traces but instead I bumped into a friend of yours, her name is Akame, she is currently staying in my house, once you return to the capital swing by my house so you two can catch up_

Tatsumi stared at the letter in utter silence for several seconds causing Rem to tilt her head curious

"Is everything alright?" The maid asked

Tatsumi slowly nodded "A friend of mine I thought I would never see again contacted me"

Rem cracked up a smile "I'm happy for you" she said before the two made their way back to the manor.

"Rem do you need help in the kitchen?" Tatsumi asked "I'm a decent cook"

"There's no need for that, please take go take a seat" The blue haired girl replied

Tatsumi just nodded and walked in the dining room where Emilia and Roswaal were seated. Even though Tatsumi was one of the 'servants' he was still a knight for them and so he had the right to dine with the other nobles though there was a strange sense of awkwardness when all of them were sitting together...maybe because of the clown.

After a few minutes Rem served the dishes and lord of the mansion chuckled

"Ooooh Tatsumi! What happeneeeed to you haaaair?" Roswaal said amused upon seeing the knight's hair

"A small war between a dragon and a cat" Tatsumi replied while also taking a seat

"I'm sorry" Emilia said with a mortified tone

The young man shook his head and smiled "It's not your fault and also don't worry, Rem is going to fix them" he said with a smile

"By the way, what was that letter about? If I may ask of course" The future asked

"Reinhard came across a friend of mine" Tatsumi said "He was kind enough to offer them a place to stay"

"Reinhard was really kind, you're going to see him next time we go the capital right?" Emilia asked getting a nod

"Speaaaking of our next visit to the capital" Roswaal started speaking "I'm sure you know that our next visit will be for the Royal Selection, right Tatsumi?"

"Yes I know, I will not cause you any trouble" Tatsumi replied calmly

"Actuaaaally I wanted to propose something to yooou" Roswaal said "As you know, I am Emilia's knight for this selection but unfortunately I doubt they will let me represent her since I'm also the court magician. This is why I wanted to ask you to take my plaaace"

Emilia widened her eyes "Wait what?! You can't ask him to-"

"Having someone like you would be beneficial for her public image, you are a knight who formed a contract with a dragon after all something that can't be ignoreeeeed. The word of your fight against the Bowel Hunter already reached the ears of many noble families, not only that but you are also a war veteran despite your age meaning that you must have a lot of experience, to be honest you would be a better knight than me" The lord said smiling

Tatsumi narrowed his eyes at him as thousands and thousands of thoughts crossed his mind. Roswaal seemed to have planned this from the start but how could he predict that someone like him would come? It was just nonsense but Tatsumi had the gut feeling that was actually it.

"With all respect to Lady Emilia, but I can't decide something like this, I know that her plans for the kingdom are for the betterment of the people's life but I don't know the other candidates" He replied still calm

"I think you already know them, after all, Ram told me she made you study them to make you build the general idea of the political stage of the kingdom" Roswaal replied with a smile

Tatsumi cursed under his breath since he couldn't reply to that "I'll have to think about it" he said

"Take your time! Today I will go see if I can indeed act as Emilia's knight or not"

With Roswaal's last words, lunch began silently. Emilia seemed to be mortified and didn't utter a word and didn't say a single word.

Rem, who had been standing next to Roswaal since the meal was served, had an expression of utter and complete shock but didn't say anything.

Tatsumi had a severe expression, he didn't like the situation he was in, he knew that this was a set up of Roswaal but he doubted that Emilia had anything to do with it.

Ancalagon was also silent, he just kept eating the steak it was served to him.

Puck had a sad expression and threw a few glares to Roswaal who started humming as he ate.

As soon as lunch was over, Tatsumi got up and excused himself before walking out of the room.

"Wait...Tatsumi" Emilia called following him out of the room

Tatsumi stopped his tracks but didn't turn around "I'm sorry Lady Emilia, I have to attend to my duties" he said before marching away

"Leave him alone Lia" Puck said floating in front of the girl "He needs to cool down...it's better to leave him alone"

"But Puck...I feel like this is my fault" The girl replied with a saddened expression

"It isn't, it Roswaal's and I also didn't like how he acted right now" The spirit said shaking his head "Cornering people like this is not right"

Emilia nodded in agreement before watching Tatsumi's silhouette going around the corner disappearing from her view.

Tatsumi spent the following hours marching outside, checking the area over and over again without uttering a single word. A normal person would have thought that he calmed down and was now performing his duties but in reality, behind that mask of calmness, his rage was still burning, not even Ancalagon dared to talk to him.

Rem watched him from one of the mansion's windows with wary eyes, the man in front of her confused her beyond measure. He smelled like death, but she found that it was the curse placed on him...He smelled like a dragon and this scared her and then he smelled like the witch and this enraged her but also confused her because the Dragon is the nemesis of the Witch and the Witch is the nemesis of the Dragon, it is impossible to be found on the same person.

The maid wanted to getting rid of him but she heard of what he was capable to do and she wasn't sure she would make it out alive and not only that but now Roswaal wanted him as Emilia's knight meaning that any action against Tatsumi would also be against Roswaal...in other words a betrayal and like this, Ram will start to hate her.

Rem felt a chill running down her spine at that thought...

The maid simply sighed and walked out and towards Tatsumi with the most neutral expression she could come up with "Sir Tatsumi" she called catching the knight's attention "Do you still want me to fix your hair?"

Tatsumi blinked a few times at her, he look completely caught off guard by that statement and after a few moments he nodded "Yeah...I totally forgot about that..." he muttered

"Please follow me then" Rem said before walking Tatsumi to her room and making him sit in front of the mirror.

Tatsumi looked somewhat indifferent to being in a girl's room, the maid wondered if he was used to it or simply was too deep in his thoughts to care, she also noticed that Ancalagon was nowhere to be seen.

She silently began grabbing the scissors and all that was necessary, and gently started treating the knight's hair. A few minutes passed but he never utters a word, though, she did notice how he would tense up every time she grabbed a sharp object.

"Are you going to accept?" she inquired with an uncaring tone

"I don't know" Tatsumi answered with a shrug "I wasn't planning to get involved with all of this political stuff"

"Well, you shouldn't have accepted to become a guard then" Rem replied

"I was planning to gather some money and then go away" he shot back

"You could have asked for money as a reward for saving lady Emilia along with a lot of other things" the maid remarked

He shrugged again "I rather do things with hard work" he then threw a glance at her "You don't like me one bit, do you?"

Rem stopped for a second before restarting fixing his hair "No, I don't like you" she replied honestly "You smell like the witch just like her cultists"

"I see" Tatsumi said calmly "Beatrice said something like that the first time we met though she didn't tell me it was the witch's smell"

"You know of the witch?" The maid inquired

"Just what your sister taught me" He replied "A very bad person from what I've read but I wonder...how can you work here if you despise the witch so much? Emilia fits the witch's description after all"

"I work for Roswaal and Lady Emilia proved to be a good person and she doesn't smell unlike you" Rem explained

"I see, you must really hate the witch" Tatsumi said

"I hate her but what I hate the most is her cultists...they are the cause of my sister's suffering..." She replied while stopping and clenching her fists in Tatsumi's hair "Because of them...I..."

"Can't say I can blame you for hating them" he interrupted her "I can tell they took something precious from you but unfortunately I'm not one of them...so killing me would serve no purpose"

"You knew I wanted to kill you?" Rem asked

"Well, you didn't bother to hide your killing intent, it was obvious" Tatsumi admitted sighing "I'm sorry for you and your sister"

"You don't know anything..." Rem hissed

"Never said I did" He responded calmly "Because it doesn't have anything to do with me, I wasn't with you and I wasn't with the cultists so yes, I know nothing about this" Tatsumi said

Rem didn't reply and simply restarted fixing his hair, the hatred she felt until now had disappeared not because she now trusted Tatsumi but because he didn't seem to lie when he said he didn't have anything to do with the witch and this had left her with a sense of sorrow because the object of her revenge had disappeared once again.

The two spent the following half-hour in silence, when Rem finished Tatsumi looked at himself and barely noticed a change except for the fact that all of his were slightly shorter though he didn't complain since he didn't ask for a new cut.

He gave Rem a nod to thank her and the two walked out "We need to go to the village, yes?"

Rem nodded "We need to resupply the kitchen"

The two started walking out when Tatsumi also noticed that Ancalagon was nowhere to be seen and decided to contact him 'Where are you?'

'Bothering Betty why?' Ancalacon immediately replied

'I thought you couldn't stay too far away from me ' Tatsumi said

'Well yes but the distance that can be between us is very generous so you can go without me at the village' Ancalagon explained 'Also if I feel weak I can always restore my energy through Betty here'

'Okay, don't cause any trouble though' Tatsumi stated before going on his merry way with Rem...

**Somewhere in the streets of the capital**

Ferris and Wilhelm were walking down the streets of the city, they were returning from the castle. Crush had asked them to check if there were any news about the day of Royal Selection day but they had no luck so far.

"These old geezers are so slow" Ferris said with a sigh "If it was up to me I would have already decided for a day nyah"

Wilhelm crossed his arms "The current situation is a delicate one, they need to be careful when making a choice"

"I guess you're right" Ferris said as they finally reached the carriage.

Wilhelm opened the door for the knight but raised an eyebrow when he saw Ferris staring towards somewhere with his ears perked up.

Ferris started running towards an empty allay followed by Wilhelm and only stopped when both laid eyes on the trembling body of girl.

She had short black hair with a twin-tail, was wearing a black outfit and had a sword strapped to her waist, she was breathing and panting heavily while writhing in pain.

"Hang in there!" Ferris said as his hands began to glow while approaching the girl's body.

His magic started to analyze the girl's body but the knight remained horrified by what he saw and looked at Wilhelm "Take the carriage here, she needs to be taken by Crush-sama"

Wilhelm nodded and returned a few minutes later, the two lifted up the girl and got her on the vehicle before they quickly returned to the Karsten Mansion...

After several hours the girl opened her eyes only to find herself under the sheets of a very comfy bed, sitting near the bed there was Crush Karsten herself while on the couch on the other side of the room there was a sleeping Ferris.

The girl, as immediate response, tried to reach for her sword at her waist but she didn't find it

"Do not worry" Crush said calmly before grabbing the girl's sword "It is a magnificent piece of work" she commented looking at the weapon "Do you know where are you?"

The girl shook her head

Crush remained serious "I'm Crush Karsten, what's your name?"

The girl stared at her for a few moments "Kurome...just Kurome" she muttered

"Well Kurone, are you aware of the conditions you were in?" Crush asked getting no reply "Ferris said that you wouldn't have survived the night if it wasn't for him who removed all the substances he found in your body"

Kurome widened her eyes at that "No! No!" she said panicking while trying to get up only to feel her body rebelling against her with extreme pain.

"Your body has been completely cleansed by that mess and now it's recovering, I don't think you'll be able to move freely any time soon" the Royal candidate said "Now, Who put that garbage inside your body?"

"I did i-"

"Lies" Crush cut her off with a now severe expression "Who did it?"

"...the Empire" Kurome whispered

"The Vollachia Empire?" Crush asked

"I don't even know what that is" The girl replied surprising Crush

'She isn't lying but...there are no other Empires besides Vollachia...' She thought before looking at the girl in her eyes "Are you here for the Royal Selection?"

"The royal what...?" Kurome asked confused

"What were you doing before we found you?" Crush asked

"I was...fighting my sister...no...I was walking with Wave...It's all so confusing" She muttered forcing her hand to reach her forehead

Crush remained serious "How is your sister called? Who is this Wave?"

"Her name is Akame..." Kurome said as tears started to roll down her eyes "And Wave is...the person I love"

Crush brought her hand to her chin as she tried to remember anyone named Akame or Wave but nothing came to her mind "Is there someone else we can contact?"

Kurome wanted to say Esdeath but she then remembered that she defected the Yeagers...instead, the image of the person who accompanied her sister flashed in her mind "Tatsumi..." she whispered

Crush raised an eyebrow "Tatsumi?" she asked getting a nod "I already heard that name...You'll be resting here until I'm done with my research..." she said getting up

"Why are you helping me...?" Kurome asked causing the other girl to stop on her tracks

"Ferris pledged to help whoever is in need and I, as the current head of the house Karsten, have a duty towards the people of these lands and so couldn't ignore someone like you...now rest and collect your thoughts"

With those words, Crush left the room and Kurome stared at the ceiling until her tiredness caught up with her and make her fall asleep again...

**Back at the village...**

Tatsumi found the village quite ordinary, it wasn't very different from those he saw back in the Empire, the people seemed in a good shape and none of them was hostile with the nobles.

The children were also happy and very active, they kept dragging Tatsumi everywhere to see stuff and he had to admit that he may have started to play with them a bit...he felt a bit sorry for the little dog who probably gets tortured by them constantly but he was sure it will be fine that little thing was quite the biter, Tatsumi knew from first-hand experience.

"You seemed quite liked" Rem said looking at Tatsumi who was walking next to her

"I kinda felt like at home with" He replied with a shrug "This place reminded of my village"

"You're not of a noble family?" Rem asked raising an eyebrow

"Nope, I was born in a little village in the north of my land, we were drowning in taxes and so I and two good friends were sent to the capital to become important in the army so that we could gather money for the village's survival" Tatsumi explained

"Oh...You succeeded then" The maid replied

"Not in the slightest" He said surprising her "We had to split during the journey to the capital and my friends arrived before me...they were lured into a noble's house where they got tortured for days for no reason except the fact that the nobles saw the normal people as cattle" his voice turned grim "When I arrived I was also lured by they hired me as a bodyguard...one night we were attacked and I was trying to defend the mansion the people who attacked us showed me what those bastards did to my friends..."

Rem was shocked to hear that and was looking at Tatsumi wide-eyed "What happened then?"

"I turned around and stabbed the person responsible...then I joined the Revolutionary Army"

"Did you win in the end?" Rem asked

Tatsumi just shrugged "That's a story for another day, you told me yours I told you mine"

"I haven't told you anything..." The maid whispered

"Maybe one day, when we'll be able to talk normally, we'll sit down and you'll tell me your story and I will tell you the rest of mine" Tatsumi said with a shrug without receiving any reply.

The two returned to the mansion while carrying all the supplies of the kitchen and found a very annoyed Ram waiting for them

"I take a free day and then I find out you left Lady Emilia Batsumi" she said causing the knight to raise an eyebrow

"I offered to help Rem with the groceries because SOMEONE took a free day out of nowhere" He replied crossing his arms

"I would have helped if SOMEONE didn't deprive me of my sleep because of how thick-headed SOMEONE was" she shot back

The two glared at each other before Rem cleared her throat "Tatsumi, My sister works hard every day so it's in her right to take a day off" she said calmly causing Ram to smugly look at Tatsumi "Sister, I'm the one who accepted Tatsumi's help so it is my fault that he wasn't around"

Ram's expression turned into one of pure shock just like Tatsumi's.

"There's still a lot of work to do, Lord Roswaal already departed?" Rem asked getting a nod from Ram

The pink-haired maid then looked at Tatsumi "Beatrice asked me to tell you to come to pick up your spirit...she was exasperated" she said before walking inside with Rem.

Tatsumi blinked a few times before nodding, he went inside and started walking through the corridors of the residence...he finally found the door he was looking for and opened it only to see a very defeated Beatrice and Ancalagon chewing her hair.

She immediately looked at him "You took your time I suppose..." she muttered

"What the hell is going on?" He asked shocked

"This evil lizard drained my mana" She replied with a sigh

"Just a little! I was curious" Ancalagon said mumbling a bit due to the hair in his mouth

Tatsumi looked at him with a stern expression and the little dragon simply let go Beatrice's hair and started walking towards Tatsumi looking like a child who has been caught while stealing cookies.

The spirit was about to climb on top of his partner when he suddenly stopped and started growling "What is that...!" he hissed confusing Tatsumi "On your hand!"

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow and looked at his right hand where the bite marks of the children's dog "Oh it was just a small dog"

"And your wound didn't heal" The dragon snarled

Tatsumi looked at his hand was now that he thought about it, it was indeed strange that such small wound didn't heal

"It's a curse" Ancalagon shouted causing Betty to get up, walk to Tatsumi and check his hand

"Oh, it is a curse" she said emotionless "Looks like you'll die tonight if you don't do something about it"

"Eh?" Tatsumi said shocked "What how does this work? How can I get rid of it?"

"It's the curse of a Shaman but since you said that this is the bite of a small dog I'm going to guess it was a demon beast in disguise" Beatrice explained "The demon beast start eating mana during the night and so you'll die since you'll be depleted of yours"

"And how do I avoid that?" The knight asked

"Well I guess I could remove it from yo-"

"FEAR NOT PARTNER! LET ME HANDLE IT!" Ancalagon as he flew above Tatsumi hand, he started at the wound until a strange black smoke started coming out of it, he then opened his jaws and seemed to bite something...as soon as Ancalagon did, the wound closed itself and the smoke disappeared.

"Umf" Beatrice said crossing her arms "What a barbaric way to dispel a curse, I suppose"

"It's the most efficient way" The spirit replied

"Tell me...This shaman...can curse multiple people?" Tatsumi asked as he grabbed Beatrice from the shoulders

The guardian of the library stared into Tatsumi's eyes "There's no maximum number of people the shaman can curse"

At those words, Tatsumi stormed off followed by Ancalagon. The knight ran through the corridors towards the exit of the mansion, he looked outside and saw that it was already evening, he needed to hurry up.

"Tatsumi where are...?" Emilia wanted to ask but wasn't able to, since the young man ran past her without acknowledging her presence.

He reached the exit and found himself blocked by Rem and Ram

"Tatsumi" Ram said with a severe tone "Where are you going?"

"To the village" He replied quickly "The kids are in danger"

"How so?" Ram asked

Tatsumi looked at Rem "The small puppy cursed me, Betty said it was a Demon Beast in disguise. That thing touched everyone and if I don't do something about it they will die"

"Lord Roswaal wants us to stay in the mansion and protect it" Ram replied

"So you are telling that Roswaal doesn't give two flying fucks of the people of his lands?!" He shouted enraged causing Ram to stumble back.

Tatsumi grabbed his sword "I'm going, it's up to you what happens next"

"Sister, I'll go with him and see if that's true" Rem said remaining calm "You go speak with Lady Beatrice and ask her if she really said that"

Ram remained silent a few moments before nodding "Okay, stay safe"

Rem nodded and stepped out of Tatsumi's way.

The now two of them ran outside and into the village, Tatsumi wasn't surprised when he saw the adults of the village running around panicking.

Tatsumi managed to grab a hold of one of them "What happened?!" he asked

"Tatsumi! The kids! They disappeared" The man said

"Tatsumi" Rem called causing the young mannto look at her "The barrier has been broken" she said pointing at some glowing crystals on the trees...although one of them was turned off "They must be in the forest...it's a place full of demon beasts"

Tatsumi nodded and looked at the man "Tell everyone that we are going to bring them back" he said with absolute determination

Tatsumi walked up to Rem "Are you ready?" he asked.

Rem simply drew out her morningstar and nodded.

Tatsumi summoned his armor surprising Rem, he spread his wings and stretched out his hand towards her "We'll be faster if we fly"

Rem seemed hesitant but eventually nodded and so she grabbed his hand but to her shock, Tatsumi pulled her close to him, lifted her up and started princess carrying her before launching himself in the air.

Rem was absolutely stunned, she didn't expect any of that but what truly shocked her was the view and how breathtaking it was.

Everything looked so small and the lights of the mansion and the village looked like fireflies in the dark. She felt a gentle breeze caressing her face.

She then looked at Tatsumi and his wings...his smell had changed, before she could smell the Witch's miasma coming from him but now...he had the scent of a dragon.

She then noticed that he was scrutinizing the landscape and this caused her to remember the reason why they were there. She immediately started to look to the ground before spotting a group of small figures lying on the ground below them and pointed her finger in their direction "There!"

Tatsumi looked in the pointed direction and was surprised to see the kids in the middle of a plain field, he thought the beasts would have dragged them into the forest...

He landed next to them and placed Rem on the ground before summoning his spear.

The maid ran to the children's side and started to use her magic to make sure they were alright.

Suddenly, one of the girls, Petra opened her eyes and saw Rem "...miss Rem...you have to call Tatsumi...there's something very important I have to tell him..." she muttered coughing a bit.

Tatsumi approached the little girl and crouched next to her "I'm here Petra"

The little girl widened her eyes seeing Tatsumi's armor "Wow...so cool" she muttered before coughing again "The girl who found the puppy...she was taken into the forest...please save her"

"Don't worry, I'll save her" Tatsumi reassured her stroking the top of the girl's head before getting up "Rem take care of the kids and bring them back to the village"

Rem nodded "Be careful Tatsumi"

The knight nodded before taking off with his wings, he started scanning the forest until he saw to the body of a small girl lying on the ground in the middle of an empty space within the forest...Tatsumi knew that it was probably an ambush set by the beasts but he didn't care since there was the life of an innocent on the line .

He landed next to the girl with his spear in hand and started looking around ready to be attacked...

"They ran away" Ancalagon suddenly said after having remained silent since they departed from the mansion

"How do you know?" Tatsumi asked

"The lesser spirits saw them ran away as you approached...they smelled a dragon and bailed out" The spirit explained "They also said...that the little girl is responsible for all of this"

Tatsumi widened his eyes as he stared at the girl laying on the ground "Why have you done this?"

At those words the girl jumped on her feet and stared at him with anger "You're the knight who hurt Big Sister Elsa..."

Tatsumi was a bit saddened to see what looked like a 9 years old to be so thristy for revenge but this didn't mean that he will let everything slide "So you did all of this for revenge?"

"No" The girl hissed "It is my mission but killing you will be like killing two birds with one stone!" she shouted before two demons, which looked like two overgrown Dobermans to Tatsumi's eyes, jumped out of the bushes.

The knight raised his arm and just like Bulat did during his first days within the Night Raid, he cut to pieces the beasts in mid-air causing a rain of blood to fall on him.

More beasts came out and they suffered the same fate, the girl started taking steps back starting to panic as he slowly walked towards her

"THE MAID!" she suddenly shouted causing him to stop on his tracks "I would check on her if I were you...she didn't seem to have a lot of flesh..."

Tatsumi blurred behind the little girl and hit her in the head making her go unconscious, she then scooped her up and took off scanning the forest below him

"Partner! There!" Ancalagon shouted causing Tatsumi to look the same direction of the spirit-

He saw a small clearing filled to the brim with Demon Beasts that were surrounding a heavily wounded Rem, who was covered in wounds, scratches and bite marks, still fighting with a horn sprouting out of her forehead.

He needed to get her away from there as soon as possible and so he decided to stretch out his hand and to start making fire rain on the beasts before picking up Rem taking advantage of the confusion.

For some reason, Rem was going crazy and trying to free herself from him and to hit him with her morningstar. Of course, Tatsumi couldn't have that and so he also knocked her off before returning to the village.

He was surprised to see Emilia, Ram and Beatrice waiting for him but he wasn't surprised when he saw them visibly recoil due to his bloody appearance

"Tatsumi! Hold on I'm going to heal you!" Emilia said worried

"It's not his blood, I suppose" Beatrice corrected her before eyeing Rem "She, on the other hand, needs some immediate help"

Ram's expression was one of horror which quickly turned into one of anger when she looked at Tatsumi "How could you let her get wounded like this?! Aren't you supposed to be a knight?!"

Tatsumi remained silent as Ram kept shouting against him and when she finally ran out breath he simply placed the girl who attacked him on the ground, he then looked at the people around him "Has anyone ever seen this girl? Or know her parents?" he asked causing the villagers to whisper among themselves before they all shook their heads "This girl has been sent by someone to cause chaos probably to ruin Roswaal's reputation, she is capable of controlling the demon beasts and was the one who broke the barrier" he stated before looking at Ram "If I knew that this was a cospiracy I wouldn't have left Rem alone, I'm sorry and I will take full responsability for this" he said solemnly "Now, is there a place where I can detain this girl? Preferably where she can't call her beasts"

"Find my library, I will take you where you can keep her controlled" Beatrice said calmly as she healed Rem "There is a barrier there, she will not be able to call the demon beasts, I suppose"

Tatsumi nodded and picked up the girl again before taking off and returning to the mansion.

"You know partner...I think Emilia was the target of this attack" Ancalagon admitted causing his partner to sigh

"I know but Emilia would blame herself for this and her image is already on thin ice" Tatsumi explained before opening a door and finding the library, he got inside and the room started shaking "I guess we arrived?"

He walked out of the library and found himself in a dungeon, he walked down until he came across some holding cells and placed the girl inside of them and locked her inside. With that done, he walked back into the library and left the mansion once again to go the village as the sun started to rise up again

When he came back, he found himself staring at Ram who was kneeling in front of Beatrice while clinging to her the loli's dress and crying her heart out, his heart stopped. "What happened?"

Emilia saw Tatsumi and walked up to him "Rem...Rem will not survive the night"

"What? Her wounds are that serious?" Tatsumi asked shocked

"No...we already healed them but for each wound, bite and scratch a curse has been placed, tonight when the beasts will activate them...Rem will die " She explained with a grim expression

"Can't you remove them?" He asked

Emilia shook her head "There are too many...even Beatrice can't do it"

"We can't do anything?"

"Kill them all" Beatrice said with a dark tone "Killing all the beasts will destroy the curses"

"I'LL GO THEN!" Ram shouted

"No, it is my responsibility" Tatsumi said

"SHE IS MY SISTER! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT SHE IS IN DANGER! WHAT CAN YOU DO?!" Ram screamed with hatred

"He can kill them without running out of energy, I suppose" Beatrice said looking down at the maid

Ram looked at the spirit with a shocked expression and started looking down at the ground as tears fell down from her eyes.

Tatsumi walked past her without saying a word and took off...

The hours passed and finally Rem woke up, she looked around herself and saw a very tired Ram sleeping at her side, she then noticed Beatrice who was standing in front of the bed "you're awake, I suppose"

"Lady Beatrice...where...?" Rem started saying

"The kids are safe, the person responsible for this has been found and taken care of" Beatrice explained calmly "And Tatsumi is busy saving you"

"What?"

"Your unfortunate encounter with the wolgarms cursed you to the point beyond my help and so Tatsumi decided to go hunt down your attackers in order to nullify the curses" Betty concluded with a shrug

Rem remained silent as Betty looked outside "He is back, I would suggest you to talk with him, , he insisted to be responsible of your conditions" she said while walking outside

Rem slowly started shaking her sister to wake her up and when she did, Ram pulled her into a hug "Rem!"

The blue-haired maid hugged back her sister back "Ram...I..." she started whispering before the door opened and Tatsumi walked in...once again covered in blood.

Rem was about to say something when Ancalagon landed on top of her head and started smelling her hair before chuckling "Mission Accomplished partner"

Tatsumi sighed and let himself fall down on a nearby chair, he wasn't physically tired but he was mentally speaking due to the fact that since he got in this world he wasn't able to fully relax.

Ram was dumbstruck by his appearance and was away to make him leave when Rem touched her hand and smiled "Can you leave us alone?" She asked calmly.

Ram was even more surprised and took her a few moments for her to nod, get up and leave.

"I...I have to thank you" Rem said calmly looking at the knight "You saved me"

Tatsumi shook his head "No need to, it was because of my lack of awareness that you got hurt"

"That is not true at all" Rem replied "Rem should have known that it was impossible for her to win against that many beasts" She stated "I'll never be able to repay you..."

Tatsumi sighed "How about you tell me about you? I think it's fair to know what happened to the life I saved"

Rem slowly nodded and after a few seconds of hesitation, she started narrating the story of her life, her inferiority complex and the attack to her village and about the moment she will always regret...the moment when Ram lost her horn...

Tatsumi watched her silently, he observed how Rem's voice got heavier and heavier and tears started falling from her eyes, he analyzed every word and an opinion formed inside his head.

"I will never forgive myself for being relieved when my sister lost everything...even for a second" Rem concluded clenching the sheets of your bed

"Does Ram know?" Tatsumi asked

Rem simply shook her head

"I think she does" He said causing the maid to widen her eyes "Ram is not stupid, I bet she figured it out long ago"

"It's impossible...she would have said it to me" Rem whispered

"She couldn't because it would have made you feel even more guilt and so the only thing she could do is to watch you trying to redeem yourself" Tatsumi explained "Ram lost her horn...and her sister that day, you two look so close to each other and yet you are far away...You keep working hard to find forgiveness while at the same time thinking you're not worthy of it...and without noticing you also hurt Ram who had to watch you struggle...it must be horrible for her"

Rem felt pain coming from her chest with every word, her expression turned into one of despair as her eyes locked with Tatsumi's "Then what should I do?"

Tatsumi got up "My brother taught me that to fully convey our emotions you need to get them out in the most explosive way possible" he said before taking a deep breath, the blood started evaporating seemingly from the knight's increased body temperature "I'M SO TIRED OF PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL ME!" he shouted at the top of his lungs causing Rem to cover her ears and someone outside to stumble a bit backward. He looked at Rem and stretched out his arm.

Rem stared at his arm for a few moments before grabbing it and being pulled from the young man.

She was now standing next to him, he was staring at her in the eyes without uttering a word...She knew what he wanted her to do.

Rem took a deep breath and...

"I'M SORRY RAM! I'M SO SORRY FOR HAVING THOUGHT BADLY OF YOU AND MAKING YOU WORRY FOR ALL THESE YEARS! I WANTED TO BE LIKE YOU, TO BE AS TALENTED AS YOU BUT I WOULD DO ANYTHING TO REPAIR WHAT HAPPENED IF I HAD THE POSSIBILITY! I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!" she shouted just like Tatsumi before starting panting heavily and looking at Tatsumi.

He simply let her go and opened the door revealing a crying Ram who had been listening to them since the very start.

The pink-haired maid hugged her sister very tightly "There's nothing to forgive! My horn is not as precious as my sister!" she whispered

Rem was in shock and wasn't able to utter a single word, she saw Tatsumi walking out and what she saw not a normal person nor a knight...what she saw was a hero


End file.
